
THE CHINESE SUQAR-OANE. 



THE 



^. 



CHINESE SUGAR-CANE; 



IIS 



iistorg, Pok of dultare, 



MANUFACTURE OF THE SUGAR, ETC. 



REPORTS OF ITS SUCCESS IN DIFFERENT PORTIONS OF THE UNITED 
STATES, AND LETTERS FROM DISTINGUISHED MEN. 



■WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY 



1/ 
JAMES P. C. HYDE, 

OF WALNUT GROVE NUESEEY, NEWTON OENTRK, MASS. 




BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT & COMPANY. 

CLEVELAND, OHIO: 

HENRY P. B. JEWETT. 

1857. 



n 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

JOHN P. JEWEIT & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Coui-t of the District of Massachusetts. 






HOBART k R0BBIN8, 

New England Tjpe and Stereotype Foundery, 

BOSTON. 



PREFACE 



Few subjects are of greater importance to us, as 
a people, than the producing of sugar ; for no coun- 
try in the world consumes so much as the United 
States, in proportion to its population. It is a sub- 
ject of special interest at this time, on account of 
the great advance that has taken place in the price 
of this very important product. 

We have been hoping for years to obtain a plant 
which would produce sugar in the northern portion 
of our country ; and it is supposed by many that we. 
have at last succeeded. But whether we have or 
not, the subject is exciting a great deal of interest, 
especially with the writer; and his attention has been 
given to the new plant, — not, however, without fear 
that it would prove, like many other new things, 
comparatively worthless. Having ascertained cer- 
tain facts in regard to it, he was induced to give 
them to the public through the newspapers, suppos- 
ing that that would be the last of it, so far as he 
was concerned. But, to his surprise, letters began 
to pour in, at the rate of three or four a day, from 
all parts of the country, from Maine to Minnesota, 
asking for further information, and for seed of the 
plant. Triese letters were answered, and seed sent 
free of charge, until they came so thick and fast, he 
was obliged to say that he could not answer them 
in detail. 

Finding there was such a desire to obtain infor- 
1*" 



IV PREFACE. 

mation, on the part of the public, he was induced, 
at the suggestion of a friend, to get up this little, 
unpretending volume. No merit is claimed for it, 
other than that it is the truth, and the whole truth, 
so far as the experience of the writer goes, and so 
far as he has been able to obtain information from 
other sources ; for he has carefully avoided every- 
thing that did not seem to be well authenticated. 

The writer hopes and believes this little work 
will prove useful to those who wish for information 
in regard to the new plant of which it treats. He 
has given all the information that could be obtained 
on the subject. The work was attended with some 
difficulties, owing to the fact of the recent introduc- 
tion of the plant, and consequently the short time 
there has been to try experiments with it. The 
writer feels a deep interest in this subject, and that 
has led him to bring this before the public. But^ 
while he gives the result of his own experience, he 
also gives a statement of most of the experiments 
that have been made in the country. For an ac- 
count of these he is indebted to Eichard Peters, 
Esq., who furnished a detailed report of his trial of 
the cane ; D. Redmond, editor of the Southern Cul- 
tivator ; the Patent Office Reports, and some of the 
agricultural papers North and South. 

The object of this work is to supply the public 
with accurate knowledge concerning this new and 
valuable plant, — Chinese Sugar-Cane. How far 
he has accomplished that object the reader must 
judge. 

J. F. C. H. 
Newton Centre, Dec. 20thy 1855 " a 



THE 



CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 



The great value and extensive consumption of 
the products of the sugar-cane lead us to feel a 
deep interest in its cultivation, and especially 
now that prices are so high ; and while we 
believe that we have, in the new Chinese sugar- 
cane, a plant adapted even to the most northern 
of the United States, and one too that can be 
grown so easily, and yield so richly. Sugar is 
no longer a mere luxury, denied to all but the 
rich and great, as it was once, but is used by all 
classes. It may not be uninteresting to the 
reader to give something of the history and- 
origin of the sugar-cane. All the evidence goes 
to show that China was the first country that 
cultivated it, and manufactured sugar ; and not 
only were the Chinese the first, but there is 
good reason to believe that they enjoyed its use 



6 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

many centuries before it was generally known 
and used in Europe. Indeed, it would further 
seem that they not only possessed the art of 
extracting the juice, but a knowledge of the 
whole process, down to refining sugar. Strange 
as it may seem, it was a long time in finding its 
way over the different countries where it is now 
so profitably cultivated. When first known, it 
went by the name of Indian salt, and under that 
name it was sent abroad from China to India 
and Arabia, and thence to Rome and Greece, 
among the costly spices, and was considered a 
rare luxury. The cultivation of the plant grad- 
ually extended over the different countries of 
Europe. 

It is supposed that it was known in the south 
of Europe as early as the ninth century, for 
there is evidence that it was cultivated at Sicily 
and the islands in its vicinity ; but it was not until 
the thirteenth century that the cane became gen- 
erally known and cultivated on that continent. 
It has finally extended over most of the civilized 
world where the climate is adapted to its 
growth. For some time after the introduction 
of sugar into Europe it was used only on great 
occasions, such as feasts, and for medicines ; and 
in a different form from what it is now com- 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 7 

monly used, — more like our candy; — and it 
is within a hundred years that the sugar-cane 
was first brought to this country and cultivated 
to some extent in Louisiana, on the very place 
where the city of New Orleans now stands. But 
the planter was not able to do any more than 
make syrup, not perhaps ever expecting to make 
sugar ; yet we see since that time hundreds of 
thousands of hogsheads have been produced 
every year. Why may not the same results fol- 
low the introduction of the new Chinese sugar- 
cane? The following account is given of the 
first experiment of sugar-making in that state : 

'' Towards the close of the last century," says 
the highest authority, '' a gentleman residing in 
the vicinity of New Orleans determined to 
attempt the manufacture of sugar. The crop 
was properly increased, the machinery procured, 
and a sugar-maker procured from the West 
Indies. The result of the experiment was anx- 
iously looked for by the whole surrounding coun- 
try. The inhabitants of New Orleans and its 
neighborhood assembled in great numbers, but 
remained outside of the building, probably 
through fear that the experiment would not suc- 
ceed. The strike was made amidst profound 
silence ; when the ' second ' was thrown into 



8 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

the coolers, the sugar-maker announced to the 
anxious crowd, in technical language, ' It 
grains ! ' shouts of joy rent the air, and the news 
spread with rapidity that the juice of the cane 
grown in lower Louisiana ha'd been manufactured 
into crystallized sugar, and a new impulse was 
given to the cultivation of cane/' Year by year 
this crop has increased in value, and has now 
become a very valuable one, and a great article 
of commerce. What variety of cane was first 
brought from China and India, I do not know, 
but probably one of the sorts that are now culti- 
vated in the West Indies, and in our own sugar- 
producing state, Louisiana. 

It may be well to give a few statistics con- 
cerning the amount of sugar consumed in this 
country, and other facts connected with the trade 
in this article. There is, annually, consumed in 
the country, upwards of 800,000,000 pounds, or 
about 30 pounds to each person ; which is cer- 
tainly a large amount, much larger than is con- 
sumed in any other country, in proportion to its 
inhabitants. In Great Britain, each person con- 
sumes 24 pounds ; Belgium, 18 ; Holland, 17 ; 
France, 8 ; Denmark, 6 ; Sweden, 4 ; Eussia, 
21 . This shows conclusively that the people of 
the United States consume more sugar than those 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 9 

of any country. It is considered indispensable 
by every one, and its use judged conducive to 
health. According to the Patent Office report 
of 1853-4, by the census returns of 1840, the 
amount of cane-sugar made in the Union, that 
year, was 119,995,104 pounds ; in 1850, 247,- 
577,000 pounds, showing an increase of 127,- 
581,896 pounds, besides 12,700,896 gallons of 
molasses. The amount of cane and maple sugar 
made in the United States in 1853-4 may be 
estimated at 545,000,000 pounds, which at six 
cents — and it is worth much more than that — 
would be worth $32,700,000, besides 14,000,000 
gallons of molasses and syrup, which, at 30 cents, 
would be worth $4,200,000. A large .part of 
the sugar which is produced in this country 
comes from Louisiana, as will be seen by the fol- 
lowing returns for the years 1853-4, — one 
year's product, — in all, 449,324 hogsheads, or 
about 495,156,000 pounds. Thus, it will be 
seen that Louisiana supplied much more than 
was produced in the whole country in 1850. 
But we teee, by late returns, that the crop has 
fallen off, so that in 1855 it was only 231,427 
hogsheads, or but little more than half what it 
was in 1853 ; and this probably is one great 



10 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

reason why sugar is so much dearer than for- 
merly. 

According to the statement of the New York 
Shipping and Commercial List, the total import- 
ation of foreign sugars into the United States for 
the year ending December 31, 1855, was 382,- 
786 hogsheads, of 1200 pounds each; in 1854, 
309,726 hogsheads. According to Hunt's Mag- 
azine, the total decrease of cane-sugar in 1855, 
as compared with 1854, was If per cent. The 
amount of sugar consumed in the United States 
in 1855 was about 766,000 hogsheads, of 1200 
pounds each. The greatest amount produced in 
Louisiana in one season being 449,324 hogs- 
heads, of 1000 pounds each. In addition to this, 
the amount of maple-sugar made in the United 
States in 1850 was 34,253,436 pounds. Of 
this. New York produced 10,357,484; Vermont, 
5,980,955 ; Ohio, 4,588,209 ; and so on, every 
state producing some. 

I might go more extensively into statistics, if 
necessary, to show the importance and value of 
this crop ; but deem it unnecessary, as e^nery per- 
son is compelled to own that it is second to few 
other crops. And though we see, by the facts 
presented, that the culture of sugar-cane and the 
manufacture of sugar from the maple has greatly 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 11 

increased within the past few years, and that it 
must naturally increase in time to come, yet the 
demand has been greater than the supply, or, in 
other words, the demand being so active and the 
supply limited, prices have greatly advanced, so 
that sugar that was sold ten years ago for six 
cents is now worth nine and ten cents, or nearly 
double what it was then. There are several 
reasons for this : much more is used than for- 
merly for preserving fruits, for confectionery, 
&c. ; less sugar is produced in the British West 
Indies than formerly ; new markets have been 
opened and have been supplied ; while hard win- 
ters in Louisiana have, in some instances, killed 
out the cane, and there have been many other 
things to contend with in its growth, all of which 
have tended to diminish the supply of this valu- 
able article. There are other well-known facts 
connected with sugar-growing in Louisiana, 
which show the difficulties and obstacles there 
are in the way of sugar-growing in that state. 
One is, the great expense they must be at in 
draining the land, and preparing it for the growth 
of the cane. This objection will hold good of 
much of the land on which sugar-cane is grown ; 
then, when the cane is matured, they must reserve 
about a fourth of their entire crop for next year's. 



12 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

setting. Their cane is grown from cuttings or 
joints of last year's growth, unlike the West 
India cane, which lives in the ground year after 
year, or the Chinese sugar-cane, which produces 
seed from which it may be grown ; — the cane 
hitherto cultivated never seeds in this country, 
and rarely anywhere. It has also deteriorated 
from being reproduced in this way year after year, 
from cuttings, so that it takes more acres to yield 
the same amount of sugar than formerly. Sugar- 
cane will not flourish on a Y^el soil. In regard 
to maple-sugar, it may be said that the supply 
will probably be limited ; and even allow that it 
should continue for many years to come as it is, 
or even increase, how much w^ould it do towards 
supplying a constantly increasing demand? The 
same argument will apply, and perhaps with 
greater force, to the manufacture of beet-sugar, 
to which considerable attention has been paid in 
France, though but little has been done in our 
own country. In 1810, when Napoleon the 
Great did everything in his power to encourage 
the cultivation of the sugar-beet, for the manu- 
facture of sugar, there was produced that year 
2,000,000 pounds, or about one fifty-eighth part 
as much as France consumed. Subsequent to 
that, its manufacture increased to an extraordi- 



THE CHII^ESE SUGAR-CANE. 13 

nary extent, and annually yielded 24,000,000 
pounds. When a tax was laid upon domestic 
sugars, it again decreased. But, for the year 
preceding the first of September, 1853, there 
was manufactured in France, from the sugar-beet, 
165,680,790 pounds. A great portion of the beet 
€rop of France is now used for th'manufacture 
of brandy, the grape crop having partially failed. 
The reputation and demand of French brandy is 
such, that it becomes profitable to use the beet 
crop for this purpose, rather than to make sugar. 
By this France becomes dependent on foreign 
countries for a large part of the sugar which it 
consumes. The beet culture for sugar has been 
extended over Germany, Belgium, and other 
European states. 

A writer in the Boston Herald, speaking of 
the deficiencies of the sugar crop of our own and 
other countries, and showing that the crop of 
Louisiana will be very much smaller than last 
year, goes into some figures to show this fact, 
and quotes from the Philadelphia Journal, which 
says : "In all probability, before next summer, 
the sugar sold at eight cents a pound in 1854 
will reach at least • double that sum. John 
Brown, the laborer, must therefore prepare to 
sweeten his tea with steam-syrup molasses.'* 



14 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

He also speaks of the comparatively small yield, 
and the entire inadequacy of the maple-sugar to 
meet this demand, and closes by recommending 
the culture of the sugar-beet. He cites the 
success of the French in this branch of sugar 
manufacture as an example for us, and thinks 
• the agricultural department of the Patent Office 
ought to take some steps to bring about " a con- 
summation so devoutly to be wished,"- — a de- 
crease in the price of sugar and molasses. He 
further says : '' The annual yield of beet-root 
sugar in France averaged for a number of years 
upwards of 1«50,000,000 pounds. This immense 
production, at thirteen cents a pound, the price 
we now pay for a decent article of Havana 
sugar, at retail, gives the handsome sum of 
about $20,000,000 added yearly to French 
industry." 

It may not be out of place here to say that the 
sugar-beet culture has been attempted, and thus 
far failed ; and I very much doubt if it can be 
revived and be made profitable to compete with 
the new Chinese sugar-cane, which is now being 
brought forward to supply, if possible, the defi- 
ciency in the sugar and syrup crop of our coun- 
try. I have no doubt, if half the time and money 
are spent in perfecting the manufacture of sugar 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 15 

from the new cane that have been spent in 
France on the sugar-beet culture, and manufac- 
ture of sugar therefrom, surprising and very- 
gratifying results will follow. For, not only will 
it, in my opinion, take the place of the old 
varieties of cane in Louisiana, and thus render 
the crop of that state much larger and more sure, 
but it will be grown in almost every state and 
territory in our widely-extended country, either 
for the production of sugar or syrup, for both of 
which I shall attempt to show it is adapted. 
Now, what do these facts concerning the sugar 
crop show ? Do they not show most conclusively 
that we must, if possible, increase in some way 
the annual production of sugar ? — and the ques- 
tion is, how shall it be done ? The only remedy 
is to find saccharine plants adapted to the tem- 
perate zone, so that they may be profitably 
employed in the production of sugar. If this can 
be done, and the farmers of each state raise and 
make their own sugar and molasses with the 
same ease with which they grow wheat and other 
grain, and manufacture it into flour, then these 
articles will be so extensively raised that the 
supply will be adequate to the demand, and 
prices will be reduced as they should be, so that 
2^ 



16 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

all, both poor as well as rich, may enjoy the ben- 
efit of them. 

Most of us have hitherto despaired of finding 
such a sugar-yielding plant that could be grown 
in a northern climate. Perhaps it is not yet 
found ; but we may hope, and not without strong 
reasons, that the Chinese sugar-cane is just the 
article calculated to supply the want. So that we 
think the day is not far distant when sugar and 
syrup or molasses enough will be produced, even 
in the New England States, to supply our wants, 
and thus relieve our country of the heavy tax it 
has paid foreign countries for this very useful 
and necessary article. 

Having shown to some extent the value of the 
sugar crop, the increasing demand for sugars and 
molasses, the reasons why we cannot depend upon 
the present sugar-growing countries for a supply 
at fair prices, the difficulties they have to overcome- 
in its cultivation, and, lastly, the necessity there 
seems to be of procuring some new plant that will 
grow everywhere, and produce the rich saccharine 
matter we so much desire, I am prepared to 
introduce to the attention of the agriculturists of 
our country the new Chinese Sugar- Cane, of 
which we shall give a short history, and then 
detail the results that have followed the exper- 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 17 

iments that have been made with it during the 
past two years. 

D. J. Browne, Esq., who is connected with the 
Patent Office, and who, I believe, first introduced 
the Chinese sugar-cane into this country, gives 
us the following full and valuable account of it, 
in the report of 1854 He says it is ''a new 
gramineous plant, which seems to be destined to 
take an important position among our economical 
products ; was sent some four years since from 
the north of China, by M. de Montigny, to the 
Geographical Society of Paris. From a cursory 
examination of a small field of it growing at 
Verrieres, in France, in autumn last, I was led 
to infer that, from the peculiarity of the climate, 
and its resemblance in appearance and habit to 
Indian corn, it would flourish in any region 
wherever that plant would thrive. But how far 
it will subserve the purpose ascribed to it in 
France, should it even succeed in every part 
of the United States, can only be determined 
by extended experiments. 

" There appears to be a doubt among the sci- 
entific cultivators in Europe as to the botanical 
name of this plant. Holcus Saccharatus, which 
is evidently an error, has been provisionally 
adopted by M. Louis Vilmorin, of Paris ; but, as 



18 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

the term is already applied to our common broom- 
corn, if not to other species, this name cannot 
with propriety be retained. Mr. Leonard Wray, 
of London, who has devoted much time and 
attention to the cultivation of this plant with a 
view of extracting sugar from its juice, at Cape 
Natal and other places, informed me that in the 
south-east part of Caifraria there are at least fif- 
teen varieties of it, some of them growing to a 
height of twelve or fifteen feet, with stems as 
thick as those of the sugar-cane. M. Vilmorin 
also says that in a collection of seeds sent to the 
museum at Paris, in 1840, by M. de Abadie, there 
were thirty kinds of sorghum, among the 
growth of which he particularly recognized sev- 
eral plants having stems of a saccharine flavor. 
Thus it will be seen that there is much cause of 
confusion, and a necessity for a critical exami- 
nation of the subject. I would state, however, 
that Messrs. Vilmorin and Greenland are engaged 
conjointly in the cultivation, and in determining 
the properties of this and the allied species, and 
we have every reason to hope that their researches 
will enable us soon to know their botanical types. 

**U. <£. .U. .U. .U. 

•JP "TV" •«■ W ^ 

*' Sorgho Sucre is a plant which on rich land 
grows to the height of from two to three or more 



1 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 19 

yards. Its stems are straight and smooth, having 
leaves somewhat flexous and falling over, greatly 
resembling Indian corn in appearance, but is more 
elegant in form. It is generally cultivated in hills 
containing eight or ten stalks each, which bear at 
their tops a conical panicle of dense flowers, green 
at first, but changing into violet shades, and, 
finally, into dark purple at maturity. In France 
it is an annual, where its cultivation and period 
of growth correspond to those of Indian corn ; 
but, from observations made by M. Vilmorin, 
it is conjectured that, from the vigor and fulness 
of the loAver part of the stalks in autumn, by 
protecting them during the winter, they would 
produce new plants the following spring. If 
cultivated in our Southern States, it is probable 
that the roots would send forth new^ shoots in 
spring, without protection, in the same manner 
as its supposed congener, the Dourah corn. At 
the North, the maturity of the seed probably 
w^ould be more certain if planted in some shel- 
tered situation ; but, if the object of cultivating be 
for the extracting of sugar, or for fodder for ani- 
mals, an open culture would be sufficient, where 
the soil is rich and light, and somewhat warm. 
According to the experiments of M. Ponsart, the 
seeds vegetate better w^hen but slightly covered 



20 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

with earth. M. Ledocte proposes to associate 
with the plant another of more rapid growth, 
such as lettuce, or rape, in order that the labor- 
ers may distinguish the young sorgho from grass, 
which it greatly resembles in the early stage of 
its growth. Any suckers, or superfluous shoots, 
which may spring up in the course of the season, 
should be removed. 

" The great object sought in France, in the 
cultivation of this plant, is the juice contained in 
its stalks, which furnishes three important prod- 
ucts : namely, sugar, which is identical with that 
of cane ; alcohol, and a fermented drink analo 
gous to cider. This juice, when obtained with 
care in small quantities, by depriving the stalk 
of its outer coating, or woody fibre and bark, is 
nearly colorless, and consists merely of sugar and 
water. Its density varies from 1.050 to 1.075, 
and the proportion of sugar contained in it from 
ten to sixteen per cent., a third part of which is 
sometimes uncrystallizable. To this quantity of 
uncrystallizable sugar this juice ow^es its facility 
of readily fermenting, and consequently the large 
amount of alcohol it produces, compared with the 
saccharine matter observed directly by the sac- 
charometer. In so far as the manufacture of 
sugar is concerned, this plant appears to have 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 21 

but little chance of success in a northern climate, 
as a large proportion of that which is uncrystal- 
lizable is not only a loss in the manufacture, hut 
an obstacle to the extraction of what is crystal- 
lizable. 

" It must not be understood, however, that the 
produce of this plant is unprolific or difficult to 
obtain, but that, all things being equal, its nature 
renders it more abundant in alcohol than in sugar. 
Yet it would be very different in the warmer cli- 
mate at the South, where the sugar-cane is diffi- 
cult to be obtained, in requiring protection from 
frost. From experiments made by M. Vilmorin, 
on some dried stalks of sorgho sent from Algeria, 
it proved that the product of sugar obtained from 
them was infinitely superior to that produced 
from the same plant which had been cultivated 
near Paris. I was also informed by Mr. Wray, 
who experimented upon the juice at Natal, that 
the proportion of cry stalliz able sugar quite pre- 
dominates where the climate allows the plant 
fully to mature. The chief advantage of the 
sorgho, as a sugar- plant, is the facility of its 
cultivation, and the easy treatment of the juice. 
It is thought that the rough product may sur- 
pass that of the sugar-cane in those countries 
where the latter is an annual, and, like which. 



22 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

its stalks and leaves will furnish an abundance 
of nutritious forage for sustaining and fattening 
animals. As the molasses, too, is identical with 
that manufactured from the cane, it may be used 
in the distillation of rum, alcohol, and a liquor 
called ' tafia,' which resembles brandy. 

" The greatest difficulty to be apprehended, 
probably, would be the preservation of the stalks 
from fermenting, owing to the short time left to the 
manufacture. This, however, might be obviated, 
as Mr. Wray informed me that, in the neighbor- 
hood of Natal, the Zoulous-Caffers preserved it 
for a long time by burying the stalks in the 
ground, notwithstanding the climate of their 
country is very warm and damp. It will also 
be observed, that in the manufacture of brandy, 
or alcohol, the uncrystallizable sugiir can be 
turned to account, which in a measure would 
otherwise be lost. Another advantage consists 
in the pureness of the juice, which, when thus 
converted, from the superiority of its quality, 
can immediately be brought into consumption 
and use. The alcohol produced by only one dis- 
tillation is nearly destitute of foreign flavor, hav- 
ing an agreeable taste, somewhat resembling 
noyau, being much less ardent, or fiery, than 
rum. 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 23 

' ' One of the points M. Vilmorin was desirous 
of establishing was, at what period of the growth 
the stalks began to contain sugar, and, conse- 
quently, when its manufacture should commence. 
He came to the conclusion that it coincided with 
the putting forth of the spikes ; but the propor- 
tion of sugar in the stalks continued to increase, 
until the seeds were in a milky state. In the 
plant in flower, he observed that the amount of 
sugar diminished in the merithalles (parts of the 
stalks between the nodes, or joints), the nearer 
they were to the top ; and also the lower part 
of each merithalle contained less saccharine mat- 
ter than the upper. In consequence of this, and 
owing to the smallness and hardness of the lower 
knot, the centre of the stalk is the richest por- 
tion. He was inclined to the opinion that, at a 
later period, the merithalles lower down the stalk 
are impoverished in the amount, if not in the 
quality, of the sugar they contain. The ripe- 
ness of the seeds does not appear much to lessen 
the production of sugar, at least in the climate 
near Paris ; but in other countries where it ma- 
tures when the weather is still warm, the effect 
may be different. According to the report of M. 
de Beauregard, addressed to the ' Comice de 
Toulon,' the ripening of the sorgho in that lat- 
3 



24 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

itude had no unfavorable effect ; and he con- 
siders the seeds and the sugar as two products 
to he conjointly obtained. On the other hand, 
Mr. Wray says the Zoulous- Gaffers are in the 
hahit of pulling off the panicles of the plant the 
moment they appear, in order to augment the 
quantity of saccharine matter in the stalks. This 
question may be of some importance in our South- 
em States, should this plant supersede in any 
manner the sugar-cane. Having considered some 
of the probabilities of this product in an eco- 
nomical point of view, it remains only for me to 
recommend it to the attention of others who may 
have opportunities to cultivate it, and the means 
and talent to prove or refute, by direct experi- 
ments, its worth." 

How far this new cane will stand the northern 
winters, yet remains to be proved. But it will 
be seen that it is not so important that this cane 
should stand the winters, for it can be groAvn 
readily from seed, without fear of deterioration, 
as in case of the old cane grown from cuttings, 
which produces less and less every year, show^ing 
most clearly that it cannot be depended upon for 
years to come. In fact, so apparent has this 
become, that fields that formerly produced 3000 
to 4000 pounds of sugar to the acre now only pro- 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 25 

duce, with equally good treatment, on an equally 
good soil, from 500 to 1000 pounds. And in 
order to preserve the sugar-fields from complete 
barrenness, the government has fitted out and 
placed at the service of the Patent Office a vessel 
which is to be sent out with a competent agent 
to procure sugar-cane cuttings from abroad, to 
stock anew the plantations of the South. 

The new cane, as will be seen, is being fully 
tested in France by men competent to determine 
its value, and to whom the public will look with 
interest, while we shall watch with still greater 
interest the results of other experiments that 
will be made next season in our own country. 
It has been found, by careful experiment, to 
yield not only sugar and syrup, but alcohol ; 
and the juice, when fermented, yields a drink 
much like cider ; when set with alum, the juice 
of the husk is said to be good for dyeing, giving 
a permanent red ; the trash, or waste, after it 
has been crushed and the juice expressed, will 
make a good article of paper, while the seed 
that the plant yields possesses fattening proper- 
ties like rice, and can be profitably fed out to 
cattle, swine, &c. And this is not all ; it will 
take the place of all other things for fodder for 
cattle, either to be fed green or dry, all of 



26 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

which properties will be treated more in detail 
hereafter. 

First, in regard to obtaining sugar from this 
cane. But little has been done yet, it is true, 
though sugar has been made from it both in 
France and in this country, so that the matter 
is not at all in doubt ; the only question being, 
whether it will supersede the old cane in the 
South, and can be profitably cultivated at the 
North. The writer made a small quantity of 
sugar this season, which, though of a dark color, 
for the want of knowledge as to the course that 
ought to be pursued, yet fully proved to his 
mind that all that is wanted is experience, to 
obtain sugar of the best quality, and in liberal 
quantities. It is thought by some that it can 
never be profitably raised for this purpose north 
of New York : time alone must determine this. 
If there were never a pound of sugar made north 
of that state, still the cane would be of immense 
importance to the North, on account of its other 
valuable properties. But it is presumption to 
say that sugar cannot be made from it ; for, if 
such syrup can be produced as the writer will 
show he has obtained from this plant, then it 
must follow that sugar can also be produced. I 
am perfectly satisfied that it may be profitably 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 27 

grown for sugar making. In regard to the syrup, 
I can speak with great confidence from observa- 
tion and experience, as well as from the results 
that have attended experiments in different parts 
of the Union. Tlie juice yields from a fifth to a 
fourth of its bulk in good syrup ; and su(;h syrup 
as will make one wish at once for the griddle- 
cakes on which to test it. In proof of its qual- 
ity, we give the following from the Daily Even- 
ing Traveller: 

''Massachusetts Molasses. — We are indebted 
to J. F. C. Hyde, of Newton Centre, for a 
specimen of molasses which he has manufactured 
from the Chinese sugar-cane grown upon his 
farm in that tow^n. It is equal to the best syrup ; 
in color of a light brown, and of an excellent 
flavor. '^ 

If any further proof is necessary, I will give 
the words of an eminent merchant of Boston, 
who tested the syrup made by me, — a gentleman 
who is fully competent to judge, it having been 
a great part of his business to import and sell 
sugars and molasses. He said, after testing it, 
that it had *' a peculiar fruity, cane flavor, and 
was a most splendid article," and wanted to 
know where I obtained it ; and that it was hard 
for him to believe I made it from cane grown in 



28 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

Newton. I may add in another place letters 
from gentlemen who tested the article made by 
me, and shall give testimony from other states 
in regard to syrup produced there. 

A great deal of alcohol can be made from the 
juice of this plant, w^hether grown North or 
South ; and it is certainly worthy of attention on 
this account, as alcohol is used to a great extent 
for mechanical and other important and proper 
purposes. In regard to cider, or the champagne- 
like drink the juice, when fermented, yields, and 
the facility with which it can be furnished, I 
shall have but little to say ; for I very much 
doubt if any practical good would follow its 
introduction. But it is a fact that it does yield 
such a drink. 

Of the juice as a coloring matter, when set 
with alum, I can only say, from experience^ that 
I did not fully succeed, the dye not coming up 
to my expectations in brilliancy; and though 
much is claimed for it by others for such pur- 
poses, still I am not inclined to estimate it very 
highly. 

Of the waste, or " begass," which has been 
heretofore referred to, I cannot speak from 
experience ; but I have no doubt it will prove 
all that is claimed for it as a substance from 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 29 

which good paper can be made. It seems to 
possess the fibre sufficient for such a purpose, 
and will probably be fully tested another season. 
If it should so prove, it will fill an important 
place in the manufacture of this article. 

And, then, the seed which it yields so profusely 
possesses all the rich qualities of rice, or other 
grain, to feed out to cattle, swine, or fowls. It 
would seem to be almost worth growing for that 
alone, as it yields from twenty-fiA^e to fifty bush- 
els per acre. And, lastly, the fodder, which 
must be quite valuable, on account of its con- 
taining so much saccharine matter. It may be 
sown for fodder, like corn, and will give two 
crops ; for, unless the season is quite dry, it will 
quickly shoot up again after being cut down. 
Or, where grown for sugar, or syrup, the leaves 
and tops of the stalks that are too green to be 
used for sugar-making can be saved for fodder, 
and thus no part of the plant be lost. If desired, 
the brush-top may be used for making brooms. 
Especially would I recommend its trial as a 
green crop for soiling, or for curing, for winter 
feed for cattle ; for I think it will prove far supe- 
rior to any and all crops that are now grown for 
that purpose. 

I now propose to give the particulars of my 



30 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

own experience during the past season with this 
truly wonderful plant. I received the seed from 
the Patent Office, through my friend, Hon. 
Simon Brown, editor of the New England Far- 
mer, and, believing it to be a humbug, I planted it 
about the twentieth of May, in hills two feet 
apart, the rows three and a half, manured in 
hills as for Indian corn and no more, on a dry, 
gravelly soil, covering the seed lightly, — for 
if covered too deep the seed decays. In a few 
days it made its appearance, resembling corn, or 
more like broom-corn, or barn-grass, and would 
be mistaken by the ignorant for that grass, and 
there would be danger of destroying it when 
hoeing. After it had been up about ten days, I 
had it hoed, and treated it all through the sum- 
mer as I treated my corn. When the panicles 
made their appearance, which they did about the 
first of September, I cut them off of all that which 
I intended for sugar or syrup making, while that 
which was intended for seed was left until just 
before the frosts came, when it was cut up and 
spread in a dry place. Most of the seed ripened, 
though it was planted late, and the season was 
cold and wet, and for weeks in the spring and 
early summer the plants made little growth. 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 31 

The cane attained the height of ten and a half 
feet. 

I tried my first experiment with the cane the 
last of September, and found the juice was thin 
and less rich than at a later period. After ex- 
pressing the juice, which is of a light green 
color and nearly as thin as milk, I put it imme- 
diately over a slow fire, without putting anything 
into it to clarify it. As it gradually warmed, 
I removed the green scum that rose on the sur- 
face, until it boiled, and there was no further 
need of skimming. I let it boil until four fifths 
had evaporated, and then turned it off to cool. 
The result was a very nice syrup. 

In the second experiment I took the cane 
about the tenth of October, and expressed the 
juice as before, putting it over a slow fire and 
gradually raising to the boiling point, this time 
putting in a small quantity of lime-water, both 
to aid in purifying and to neutralize the acid 
which the juice contains. This time the juice 
appeared and proved much richer than before. 
The same process of skimming was carried on, 
and I obtained a much larger proportion of syrup 
and of a better quality, such as I have described 
on a former page. Subsequent to this I tried 
another experiment with the juice, and proceeded 



32 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

as before, except I boiled it more, and then set 
it away in a strainer to drain ; and it grained 
tolerably well, though the sugar was of rather 
dark color. I tried the juice for coloring, as I 
have before said, with indifferent success. In 
addition to this, I used the seed- cane stalks and 
leaves for fodder ; cut up the stalks and fed 
to horses, cows, and swine, and they would eat 
it with the greatest avidity, even like shelled 
corn. This ended my experiments with the 
cane. 

I now propose to give the results of experi- 
ments that have been tried by others in different 
parts of the country. And first among them 
stands Eichard Peters, Esq., of Atlanta, Geor- 
gia, who has tested it more fully than any other 
man, so far as I know, in the United States. 
He says: ''I considered it a 'humbug' until 
my children, towards fall, made the discovery 
of its being to their taste equal to the true 
sugar-cane. This year I planted one patch April 
fifteenth, another May eighteenth, on land that 
would produce, during a ' seasonable ' year, forty 
bushels of corn per acre, and this year not over 
twenty bushels. Seed sown carelessly in drills, 
three feet apart, covered with a one-horse 
plough ; intending to ' chop out ' to a stand of one 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 33 

stalk six inches apart in the row, but failed to get 
a good stand, as the seed came up badly, from the 
deep and irregular covering. Worked out same 
as for corn, ploughing twice and hoeing once. I 
determined to give the syrup-making a fair trial ; 
consequently ordered a very complete horse- 
power mill, with vertical iron rollers, that has 
worked admirably, crushing out juice for eight 
gallons of syrup per hour, worked by two mules, 
with one hand to put in the cane and a boy to 
drive. On the thirteenth of September, find- 
ing the seed fully ripe, I had the fodder pulled 
and the seed-heads cut. Yield of fodder per 
acre, eleven hundred to thirteen hundred pounds. 
Yield of seed per acre, twenty-five bushels of 
thirty-six pounds to the bushel. First trial of 
mill, seventy average canes gave twenty quarts 
of juice ; six hundred and six average canes, 
passed once through the rollers, gave thirty- 
eight gallons one quart of juice ; passed a sec- 
ond time through, gave two gallons of juice. 
The forty gallons one quart gave eight gallons 
of thick syrup. I carefully measured an eighth 
of an acre having the best canes and the best 
stand, another eighth having the poorest canes 
and the poorest stand ; the result I give below, 
the canes having passed once through the rollers : 



34 THE CHINESE SUaAR-CANE 

Best eighth of an acre. 

Yield of juice from 3315 canes, 253 gal. 

Yield of syrup from 253 gallons of juice, . . . 58-| " 

Rates of syrup per acre, 468 " 

Poorest eighth of an acre. 

Yield of juice from 2550 canes, 179 gal. 

Yield of syrup from 179 gallons of juice, . . . 43 J " 

Rates per acre of syrup, 346 " 

Weight of 30 selected canes, 49 J lbs. 

" of juice pressed out, 25| " 

" of crushed cane, 23 " 

Loss in crushing, J " 

Weight of crushed cane dried in sun, .... 9J " 

"^ The following tests were made at the mill 
by Dr. Robert Batty : 

Specific gravity of Chinese Sugar-cane juice, . 1.085 

" " of syrup, 1.335 

*' " of New Orleans syrup, . . 1.321 

Thermometer applied to syrup, 77 deg. 

Thermometer applied to juice, 70 " 

Saccharometer, " " 25J " 

" The juice should be placed in the boilers im- 
mediately on being pressed out, then boil slowly 
until the green scum ceases to rise ; then stir in 
a tea-spoonful of air-slacked lime to five gallons 
of juice ; continue skimming and boiling until 
the syrup thickens and hangs down in flakes 
on the rim of the dipper. I have made the 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 35 

clearest syrup by simply boiling and skimming, 
without lime or other clarifiers. The lime is 
requisite to neutralize a portion of the acid in 
the juice : the true proportion must be deter- 
mined by well-conducted experiments. The cost 
of making the syrup in upper Georgia, in my 
opinion, will not exceed ten to fifteen cents per 
gallon. This I shall be able to test, another sea- 
son, by planting and working up fifty acres of 
the cane. I am satisfied that this plant will 
enable every farmer and planter in the Southern 
States to make at home all the syrup required for 
family use ; and I believe our chemists will soon 
teach us how to convert the syrup into sugar for 
export, as one of the staples of our fancied 
clime. Obtaining such unlocked for success with 
the Chinese sugar-cane, I concluded to try our 
common corn. From a 'new ground,' planted 
three feet by three, one stalk to a hill, a week 
beyond the roasting stage, I selected thirty 
stalks. 



Weight of 30 stalks, 35f pounds. 

" *' juice, 

" " ci-ushed stalks. 
Loss in crushing. 
Yield of syrup, 



'o» 



The syrup was of a peculiarly d 
entirely unfit for table use.'' 
4 



15i 

1 

2 



1^ pints. 

sagreeable taste, 



36 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 




The mill referred to in the above communica- 
tion, and of which I give an engraving, I under- 
stand was made at Atlanta, Ga., and cost for 
iron work about forty-five dollars ; and is said, 
by a committee of gentlemen who examined it, 
to be "worthy of commendation." This com- 
mittee further say, that they ' ' have no hesitation 
in pronouncing upon the value of the Chinese 
sugar-cane for making syrup." Without asking 
anybody to embark largely in the cultivation of 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 37 

this new article, I think it well worth a fair trial, 
''and hope that none will be ready to write it 
a humbug until they shall have tested its merits.' ' 
" We have repeatedly called the attention of 
our readers," says the Charleston Mercury^ ''to 
the value of the Chinese sugar-cane, and are 
therefore greatly rejoiced to find that the article 
has fallen into the hands of so scientific and 
careful an experimenter as Ex- Gov. Hammond, 
who will be widely recognized as one of the 
highest authorities in Southern agriculture. We 
copy below a carefully considered report of his 
experiments with the Chinese sugar-cane, pre- 
pared for an agricultural society in his own 
neighborhood, and furnished for publication to 
the Barnwell Sentinel. It will commend itself 
to the attention of the planters of the state. 
There can be no doubt that the sugar-millet is 
destined to prove an important addition to the 
resources and comforts of the plantation.'' 

" Report of an experiment in making syrup from the Chinese 
sugar-cane, or sugar-millet, made to the Beech Island Far- 
mer's Club, August 2d, 1856. By Hon. J. H. Hammond, 
of South Carolina. 

"Oae of our members, Mr. Redmond, of the 
Southern Cultivator, distributed among us, last 



38 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

winter, some seeds of what is commonly cnlled 
sugar-millet. He very kindly gave me enough to 
plant half an acre, — about a pint. I prepared a 
plot of ground on a northern slope of old, stiff, 
worn-out land, in such a manner and with so much 
manure as would probably have made it yield, 
with average seasons, about twenty bushels of 
corn per acre. On the 22d of March 1 planted 
the millet-seed in three-feet drills, dropping 
every eighteen or twenty inches some six or 
eight seeds. It was ploughed and hoed often 
enough to keep the grass down, and about the 
first of July began to head. Tlie heat had then 
been unusually intense for two wrecks, and has 
continued so up to the present time ; and latterly 
the drQuth has been very destructive. I do not 
think this half-acre would have yielded five 
bushels had it been planted in corn. Having 
intended, however, to ascertain whether the 
millet would make syrup, I had a rude mill put 
up, with two beech rollers. Finding by the 22d 
of July the most advanced heads had passed the 
milk stage, I had 1750 canes cut, that I sup- 
posed were a fair sample of the patch. The 
first three or four hundred were passed through 
the mill twice, the remainder four times ; and 
the yield was 194 quarts of juice. But ten 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 39 

canes that I selected and passed seven times 
through the mill yielded three quarts. The 
juice was received into common tubs, and tested 
by a thermometer, and a saccharometer with a 
scale of 40 degrees. . The thermometer stood in 
every instance at 78 degrees. The saccharometer 
varied from 211 degrees to 234 degrees. At the 
latter point the juice would float a fresh egg. I 
boiled it in a deep pot, and after six to seven 
hours' boiling obtained 32 quarts of tolerable 
syrup. The next day I selected ten canes, the 
heads of which were fully matured ; ten more, in 
full milk ; ten more, the heads of which were 
just fully developed and the top seed beginning 
to turn black ; and again ten comprising all these 
stages, but from which I did not strip the leaves. 
They were all passed through the mill seven 
times, and yielded nearly the same quantity of 
juice — about three quarts for every ten canes. 
The juice — tested by the saccharometer — showed 
that the youngest cane had rather the most, and 
the oldest rather the least saccharine matter. 
The whole together, with that of a few other 
good canes, exhibited at 80 degrees of the ther- 
mometer 24^ degrees of the saccharometer. From 
forty-two pints of the juice I obtained, after 

four hours' boiling, nine pints of rather better 

4* 



40 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

syrup than that made the day before. In these 
boilings I mixed with the coM juice a tea-spoonful 
of lime-water, of the consistency of cream, for 
every five gallons. These selected canes grew 
on the best spot on the p^tch, and where corn 
probably might have been produced the present 
season at the rate of twenty bushels to the acre. 
They were one inch in diameter at the largest 
end, and seven and a half feet long after cutting 
oflP the head and the foot of the stem. After 
this I cut down all the inferior cane, and cured 
it for forage. 

''On the 28th of July, two of the members of 
the club, being at my house, rem;iined to see the 
result of pressing and boiling four hundred canes 
I had cut and stripped. Each of us selected ten 
canes, and put them through the press eight 
times — the result being as before, about three 
quarts for every ten canes. But even after the 
pressure juice could be wrung from the canes by 
the hand, and we agreed that at least one fourth 
of it, and that the best, remained in the -cane — 
so inefficient was my mill. The rest of the cane 
I ordered should be pressed six times ; but we 
did not ourselves remain to see it done, nor did 
we count the 400 canes. The yield of the 
whole, however, was thirty-seven and one half 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 41 

quarts, with the thermometer at 85 degrees in 
the juice : the saccharometer stood 24i degrees. 
We boiled the juice until it run together on the 
rim of the hidle, and hung in a transparent sheet 
half an inch below it before falling, and this in 
two and a half hours. The result was six quarts 
of choice syrup. The next day I repeated the 
experiment on a larger scale, with equal success ; 
and I have brought to the club enough of the 
syrup to enable every member to try it, and judge 
of its quality. All who have tested it agree 
that it is equal to the best that we get from New 
Orleans. In these last boilings I put a table- 
spoonful of lime-water, prepared as before, to 
every ten gallons. The whole process of clarify- 
ing and boiling was carried through in the same 
pot, and that very unsuitable from its depth. I 
measured the grain from a number of heads, and 
the result was an average of a gill from each. I 
weighed a half a peck of maturer grain after 
several days' exposure to the sun ; — it weighed 
four and three fourths pounds, equal to thirty- 
eight pounds per bushel. I weighed twenty of 
the best cane cut for forage, after it was cured 
sufficiently to house. They weighed twenty-four 
pounds, equal to thirty thousand pounds for 
twenty-five thousand canes ; which I think might 



42 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

be grown on land that would make twenty-five 
bushels of corn, with average seasons. I have 
tried horses, cattle, and hogs, and find they eat 
the cane, its leaves and seeds, greedily, and 
fowls and pigeons the last. I think, however, 
that, when allowed to mature, the cane should be 
cut up fine for animals, as the outer coat is hard. 
I did not attempt to make sugar, not having pre- 
pared for that ; there can, however, be no doubt 
that sugar can be made from such syrup as this. 
And as they make more syrup in the West 
Indies per acre than they do in Louisiana, only 
because the cane matures better, it is not unrea- 
sonable to infer that the millet, which matures 
here perfectly, and would even make two crops in 
one year, will yield more and better sugar than 
the Louisiana cane. 

'' Beginning to cut cane as soon as the head is 
fully developed, it may be cut for a month before 
it will all ripen, — how long after that, I do not 
know. As succession of crops might be easily 
arranged so as to insure cutting and boiling, from 
the first of July, — probably earlier, — then until 
frost, I have housed' some stalks immediately 
from the field, to ascertain, hereafter, whether 
thus treated it will yield juice and make syrup 
next winter. A good sugar-mill, with three 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 43 

wooden rollers, may be erected for less than 
twenty-five dollars, and a sugar-boiler that will 
make thirty gallons of syrup a day may be pur- 
chased in Augusta for less than sixty dollars. 
This millet will, of course, mix with any other 
variety of the millet family planted near it. I 
have now stated the chief particulars of my 
experiment. A single experiment — especially 
one in agriculture — is rarely conclusive. I may 
err myself, and cause others to err, were I to ex- 
press with any emphasis the opinion I entertain 
of the value of this recently-introduced plant." 

We learn by this experiment, though tried at 
the South, much that' is of importance to those 
who are entering upon the cultivation of this 
sugar-cane. 

Among those things, w^e propose to notice 
briefly, first, the quantity of seed used to " half 
an acre, — about a pint." This, according to my 
experience, is a small pattern, though I have no 
doubt, if it were evenly distributed with a seed- 
sower, it might answer. But it is always better 
to plant more than you want, and thin out, than 
to plant so thin that you will fail to get a crop. 
We learn further that it was planted in drills, 
one seed every three inches. I believe this to be 
the best way to raise it — in drills — either for 



44 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

syrup-making or for fodder, though care should 
be taken to thin out, if too thick, so that the cane 
would be stout enough to resist the storms that 
sometimes lay the stover corn prostrate. We also 
find that that which was planted the 22d of 
March was fit for cutting on the 2 2d of July, 
being a period of one hundred and twenty days, 
which accords with my experience with it during 
the last season, and which shows most conclu- 
sively that it can be grown in the New England 
States ; for it may be put into the ground ordi- 
narily as early as the first to the tenth of May, 
and consequently would be suitable for cutting 
from the first to the tenth of September. This 
would give us the whole month of September, 
and, in some seasons, considerable of October, 
in which to manufacture our sugar, or syrup. 
Again, we learn from the account that it with- 
stood a most severe drouth, which it is said would 
have proved very severe to corn, and probably 
materially lessened the crop, and yet the cane 
did not suffer much. We are also shown the 
manner in which the juice was clarified, which 
we shall do well to notice, for I believe there is 
no better clarifier than lime-water, though there 
needs to be some careful experiments to deter- 
mine the quantity that shall be used. For, where 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 45 

I used the lime my syrup was very much hetter 
than that made without the lime. We are 
further told, in regard to the seed or grain, the 
amount from each head being a gill, and weigh- 
ing at the rate of thirty-eight pounds to the 
bushel ; which goes to confirm the position I took 
in a former part of this work, that it would 
almost, if not quite, pay for raising for the grain. 
I also agree with the writer in saying that the 
stalks should be cut up with a hay or stalk cut- 
ter, or in some other way ; for the stalk is hard, 
and cannot be so readily eaten as when cut. 
Again, it is said that a sugar-mill, with wooden 
rollers, can be procured " for less than twenty- 
five dollars, and a sugar-boiler that will make 
thirty gallons of syrup per day for sixty dollars." 
Now, it is doubtful if such a wooden mill will be 
a proper one, such as it would be economy to use, 
even though it should seem to answer the purpose 
tolerably well. Sugar-mills, such as are manu- 
factured to send to the West Indies, are made at 
South Boston, and all complete cost from three to 
five hundred dollars ; though, if this cane should 
succeed, I am in hopes we shall have cheap, 
portable mills, one of which might answer for a 
small neighborhood. Boilers can probably be 
obtained cheaper here than at the South, though 



46 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

it is not necessary to have these large boilers 
except when it is intended to make large quan- 
tities of syrup. 

We will give further results of experiments 
made at the South, and quote from the Southern 
Cultivator, for October, 1856: "In the winter 
of 1844-5, the junior editor of this journal 
obtained from Boston a few ounces of seed of 
this plant, — Chinese sugar-cane, — then newly 
imported from France. It came very highly 
recommended as a sugar-producing and forage 
plant ; but, having a vivid recollection of many 
previous disappointments with new-fangled no- 
tions, we concluded to test it cautiously and 
moderately. In order, however, to give it a fair 
chance, we distributed small parcels, per mail, to 
friends in various portions of Georgia and the 
adjoining states, and planted for ourselves only 
seven or eight hills, in a poor spot in our garden. 
At first it came up like grass, or Egyptian 
millet, and grew off slowly and weakly ; but in 
a fcAV weeks it began to shoot upward, and in 
less than three months attained the height of 
eight or ten feet, with large and well-filled heads 
of seeds, somewhat resembling broom-corn, but 
covered with a black husk, or chaff. Passing by 
it one day, when the seeds were nearly or quite 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 47 

ripe, we concluded to test the sweetness of the 
stalk ; so, cutting a moderate-sized cane, and 
peeling its hard outside coat, we found a solid 
pith of about three fourths of an inch in diame- 
ter, and crisp, brittle, and an exceedingly sweet 
and pleasant flavor, wholly and entirely unlike 
anything of the corn-stalk family that we had 
ever tasted. It was, in fact, ready-made candy ; 
and as soon as the younger members of the 
family and the negroes got the taste of it, we 
were obliged to interdict its further use, in order 
to save seed. When the latter were fully ripe, 
we cut off the heads and saved them carefully, 
noticing, with some surprise, that the leaves or 
blades of fodder were still as fresh, green, and 
succulent, as ever. The stalks were then cut off 
near the ground, and fed, leaves and all, to our 
horses, mules, and milch cows, all of which eat 
of it with the greatest apparent relish and 
avidity. Considering that crop disposed of for 
the season, we paid no more attention to the 
stubble, or stumps, until we happened to notice 
that, millet-like, they were shooting out anew, 
and pushing on for a second growth. This 
growth we watched with some interest, until the 
first frost checked it ; at which time, the stalks 
were six feet high, full of broad and juicy leaves, 
5 



48 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

and with the second crop of seed just making its 
appearance above the 'boot.' Fully satisfied 
by this time that it was Valuable, at least for the 
production of soiling, forage, and dried fodder, 
we next turned our attention to its saccharine 
properties, and fortunately induced our friend. 
Dr. Kobert Battey, of Rome, Georgia, who was 
at that time pursuing the study of experimental 
chemistry, in the well-known laboratory of Prof. 
Booth, of Philadelphia, to test it. As the result 
of his experiment. Dr. Battey sent us three 
small phials, one containing a fine syrup, one a 
sample of crude brown sugar, and the other a 
very good sample of crystallized sugar. This we 
believe to be the first crystallized sugar made in 
the United States from the juice of the sorgho- 
Sucre ; and as Dr. Battey' s opinion of its value 
as a plant fully agreed wdth the reports of the 
French savans who had investigated its proper- 
ties, and with our own convictions, we this year 
disseminated it more widely, and planted nearly 
two acres, for the express purpose of raising the 
seed, and testing the ability of the plant to bear 
repeated cuttings, like Egyptian and other varie- 
ties of millet. It was planted very late, on poor 
soil, and has received but imperfect culture ; and 
yet, at the present time (August 25) a portion 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 49 

of it has been cut three times, and is growing up 
finely, while the remainder has ripened its seed, 
and will yield a full crop of excellent fodder 
after the present stalks are cut off at the ground 
and crushed for syrup, or fed out to our stock. 

" So much for its introduction into this sec- 
tion, and its history among us thus far. It is 
our deliberate opinion, that for 'soiling,' — cut- 
ting green, repeatedly, — for the production of 
syrup, sugar, cider or wine, alcohol, fodder, and 
grain, at the same time, it will be found inval- 
uable to the South, and that no plant of recent 
introduction among us can at all compare with 
it." It will be seen by the above that the cane 
will produce, as I supposed, more than one crop 
of fodder from the same roots, even in the North- 
ern States, and three or four in the Southern. In 
this, as in other respects, it may prove more 
valuable to the South than the North. But, after 
giving some more testimony from the South, we 
shall give some from the more Northern States. 

Dr. Battey, to whom reference has been 
made on a former page, writes as follows to the 
Southern Cultivator, in reply to inquiries that 
had been made of him : "I cheerfully com- 
ply with your request for information on the sub- 
ject of my observations and experiments on the 



50 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

Chinese sugar-cane, as a syrup-producing plant. 
My attention was first called to the subject by 
the seed which you were kind enough to send 
riie in the spring of 1855. I planted them, and 
raised, say, fifteen to twenty canes, that year, 
from which I extracted a^mall quantity of juice 
for analysis. This juice, as you are already 
aware, yielded, during the winter, sugar and 
syrup, samples of which I sent to you for inspec- 
tion. Impressed as I was with the probable 
importance of this plant to the agriculturists 
of the South, I did not deem it prudent to speak 
hastily of its merits, waiting, rather, until a repe- 
tition of these experiments upon a larger scale 
should fully establish the opinions I had enter- 
tained of it. 

" The present year I have cultivated a few 
more canes for my experiments, and upon the 
farm of Kichard Peters, Esq., Gordon county, 
Georgia, I have witnessed the growth of the 
cane by the acre, and the production of the 
syrup by barrels. I have, in the mean time, read 
attentively the opinions of Gov. Hammond, of 
South Carolina, and others in different sections 
of the Union, who have grown the plant and 
experimented with it, as also the valuable paper 
of M. Vilmorin, of France, who has given this 



i 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 51 

subject much study and investigation ; so that, 
cahnly viewing all the facts which I have been 
able to collect, I no longer entertain a doubt 
that this plant is well worthy of the attention 
and study of the farmers and planters of the 
South. If the opinions I shall express should 
seem to some too wild and extravagant, I trust 
they will receive them as the honest and candid 
sentiments of one who has carefully examined 
the subject, and be led to investigate and exper- 
iment for themselves. Should I thus be enabled 
to arouse the attention of Southern farmers to 
the importance of this plant, my object will 
have been accomplished, and my labor well 
expended. 

" The Chinese sugar-cane seems to adapt itself 
to all the vicissitudes of our varied climate and 
soil, and with a facility unsurpassed by corn or 
wheat. In Cherokee, Ga., it flourishes in a high 
degree of perfection upon soil high and low, rich 
and comparatively poor, producing heavy crops 
of stalk, leaf, and seed. The experiments of 
Mr. Peters (which are already published in many 
of our agricultural papers) present an example 
of most successful culture. I have found it to 
grow with me, in all respects, as vigorously as 
corn, with precisely similar treatment. In Al- 
5* 



52 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

leghany County, Md., a correspondent writes for 
the May number of the American Farmer : 

'' * I think it well adapted to our mountainous 
country, and promises to be more valuable than 
any other article we can grow for provender. I 
believe it will produce six or eight tons of dried 
provender to the acre.' The present writer has 
met many intelligent and enterprising farmers of 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, 
and New York, in attendance at the late National 
Fair at Philadelphia. Many of them had wit- 
nessed its growth in their respective states with 
entire success. One gentleman of New Jersey 
had grown a half-acre of the cane this season. 
It has been successfully grown in Illinois, also ; 
and one gallon of the juice is said to have yielded, 
by boiling, a quart of syrup of good quality. 
There is every reason to conclude that the cane 
may be easily and successfully grown in all parts 
of our country. 

''Culture. — While the seed remains in the 
hands of the few, and commands a price too 
high to permit a waste, it should be planted for 
one season with good distance, that the seed crop 
as well as the cane may attain their highest state 
of development. I would recommend that the 
rows should be three, or even four feet apart, 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 53 

and the distance of, say, two feet given in the 
row, dropping one or two seed in a place. Let 
the ground be well cultivated, as for corn, and 
the shoots or suckers which spring up from the 
root be all permitted to grow. A small portion 
of the crop should be reserved for seed, and per- 
mitted to stand until fully matured and dry. It 
Avould be well to limit the canes in the seed patch 
to one. By all means permit no broom-corn, 
Dour ah- cor n^ or other plants of the same family, 
to grow mar your cam. It readily intermixes 
w4th these varieties, and effectually ruins your 
seed for the production of syrup. For the same 
reason, great care should be observed in procur- 
ing reliable seed, as well as in keeping them so. 
"After the first season, when a full supply of 
seed shall have been secured, a better-paying 
syrup crop may be grown by closer planting. 
The space between the rows may well be nar- 
rowed down to three feet, and the seed put in, 
say, two or three every six inches ; when well up, 
the stoutest and healthiest plants should alone be 
allowed to stand. The cane, when very young, 
presents so much the appearance of grass, that 
an advantage may perhaps be gained by drop- 
ping some other seed with the cane, that the 
latter may be more readily distinguished. This, 



54 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

of course, should be drawn out with the super- 
fluous cane-plants. When of sufficient size, the 
plants should be suckered down to one cane for 
each root. In other respects, the successful 
grower of corn will not be at a loss in the cul- 
tivation of this plant. I have found a suitable 
time for planting to be immediately after the 
corn crop, although excellent results have been 
obtained by planting as late as the 15th of May, 
in Cherokee, Ga. It will doubtless be desirable 
to. make several .successive plantings, that they 
may mature gradually, and so give more time 
for harvesting the crop. The land, in my opin- 
ion, should be prepared in all respects as for 
corn. 

"Harvesting. — When the stalk shall have 
attained its full size, and the seed have passed 
from the dough stage to a harder texture, the 
cane may be considered sufficiently mature ; or, 
if the crop be large, and a deficiency of hands be 
apprehended, the cane may be cut earlier, and 
the cuttings continued from time to time, as 
needed for the press. The fodder should be 
pulled as for corn ; another set of hands cutting 
off one half to two feet of the top with the seed, 
while others cut the cane at the ground and 
thi'ovv it into piles, from whence it is handed to 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 55 

the press. Prior to the harvesting, a set of 
proper rollers and kettles should be provided, 
and well set up ready for service. 

'' The mill made use of by Mr. Peters, and 
which w^as gotten up under his direction for the 
purpose, is, in my opinion, of very unexceptionable 
quality for a small apparatus, and works admira- 
bly. It is of a suitable size for a small crop, and 
no farmer should undertake to supply its place by 
wooden rollers for a crop of even two acres. The 
loss of juice will more than counterbalance the 
difference in expense. It is worked by two 
mules. Three kettles, of from sixty to one hun- 
dred gallons' capacity, will be required to keep 
pace fully with the mill ; it is desirable that 
these should be broad and shallow, that they 
may present a large evaporating surface, and 
substantially set in brick for security and con- 
venience. They should not be distant from the 
press, and if upon ground lower than the latter, 
an advantage is gained in running the expressed 
juice directly into them, and thus saving the labor 
of transfer. 

" Pressing. — The canes, located conveniently 
at hand, are one by one doubled in the middle 
and forced between the rollers, which are kept 
in as close proximity as the strength of the mill 



66 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

and the power of the mules will warrant. An 
active hand will feed the mill easily, if the canes 
be placed within his reach. A boy is required 
to drive, and if the mill be well constructed to 
throw off the begass from behind, nothing more 
is required except an occasional removal of the 
latter by a pitchfork, to keep it out of the way 
of the mules. 

''Boiling down. — One of the first things done, 
in commencing operations, should be to start the 
fire under the kettles, that they may be well 
warmed by the time the juice is ready for them. 
The fires should be so arranged that they may 
be under good control, to be forced or withdrawn 
as occasion may require. When the juice is 
placed in the boiler, the fire should be gradually 
increased to a simmering heat, "not to active 
boiling," and maintained at this temperature 
until a thick green scum rises to the surface 
and forms into puffs, seeming ready to crack. 
This scum, when fully formed, should be removed 
clean from the surface. The heat may now be 
raised to boiling, and kept in an active state of 
ebullition, until the bulk is reduced one half. 
The fire may now be removed from one kettle, 
and its contents be transferred to the other, when 
the heat must be gradually moderated as the 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 57 

syrup becomes more concentrated, to avoid the 
danger of scorching, which injures the color and 
flavor. Should more dirty-green scum rise to 
the surface after the first skimming, it should 
likewise be removed. 

a jj2 regard to the precise degree of concentra- 
tion to which the syrup should be brought, it is 
exceedingly difficult to lay down any precise and 
simple rule, which shall meet every case. The 
plan for determining it in use on the sugar plan- 
tations, and which was adopted by Gov. Ham- 
mond and Mr. Peters, is based upon the judg- 
ment of the eye in respect to the consistence of 
the syrup when poured from the ladle and cooled 
as it drops from its edge. This test is evidently 
very defective, since the temperature of the at- 
mosphere regulates the consistence which the 
syrup must assume on cooling down ; so that a 
syrup boiled on a cold day will necessarily be 
thin and watery as the weather moderates, and 
a syrup finished at night will differ materially 
from that of the noonday. Although a good ap- 
proximation, it is not exact enough for the tyro 
to secure a desirable uniformity in the consist- 
ence and value of the product, or to obviate the 
danger of fermentation and loss. To remedy 
this uncertainty, and secure a uniform result at 



58 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

all times, I have constructed a simple instrument, 
which determines readily and with certainty the 
precise moment when the syrup should be re- 
moved from the fire and transferred to the bar- 
rels. For the convenience of those who may 
desire this aid, I shall prepare a number of them 
during the season, which may be furnished by 
mail. With such a guide to the uninitiated, 
there are certainly few more simple operations 
upon the farm than the manufacture of syrup 
from this cane. 

''It is a prevalent opinion that lime should 
always be added to the juice as soon as it is 
pressed out, and the idea has been advanced 
that it could not be clarified without lime. This 
is undoubtedly a mistake ; the juice alone, un- 
der my hands, clarifies itself more readily with- 
out lime than with it. The latter answers no 
useful purpose, as far as the syrup is concerned, 
save to neutralize the free acid (phosphoric) 
which exists naturally in the cane. Lime dark- 
ens the color, and, to my taste, detracts from 
the peculiar grateful flavor of the syrup. Many 
would, perhaps, object to the slight acidity ; to 
such I would say, use the lime, but use it spar- 
ingly. To prepare it for use, take a half-peck 
of lime, slake it in a bucket of water gradually 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 59 

added, stir up well, and strain the milk through 
a cloth ; let it settle for half a day, pour off the 
water, and dry the powder. Of the latter you 
may use from a half a tea-spoonful to two tea- 
spoonsful for every five gallons of juice, after the 
scum has been removed. 

'' The scum is used in the West Indies for the 
manufacture of rum, the details of which are 
entirely too elaborate to be introduced here. It 
may be also advantageously disposed of as food 
for hogs. The quantity of saccharine matter left 
in the begass renders it a nutritious food for stock. 
This refuse, by leaching water through it, yields a 
saccharine solution which may be fermented into 
beer or vinegar, and may be distilled into Avhis- 
key and alcohol.^ It may be also advantageously 
used to cover the cut canes in hot weather, when 
it may be desired to have a large quantity kept 
at the mill for days and weeks before being all 
used. The constant evaporation of the juice 
in the begass keeps the cane beneath at a tem- 
perature so low as to prevent fermentation, as 
well as the drying of the cane ; it will also serve 
to shield it from the frost. A suggestion has 
been made to convert the ligneous fibre into 
paper. It certainly is a better material for this 
purpose than much that is now employed. It is, 
6 



60 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

however, an object of minor importance to the 
Southern planter as yet. As a manure, the 
begass is evidently a most valuable article, for 
its large amount of phosphoric acid, added to the 
decomposing vegetable and the other mineral 
matters which it contains, while the remaining 
portions of saccharine juice readily induce a fer- 
mentation which ends in putrefaction, and leaves 
the mass in a fit state for the nourishment of 
plants. The large quantities of mineral matter, 
and particularly the phosphoric acid, which the 
cane in its growth must remove from the soil, 
necessarily imply that it will be an exhausting 
crop, since these materials certainly cannot be 
furnished by the atmosphere. This evil may, in 
great part, be removed by carefully returning 
to the soil again the refuse in form of manure. 
If other fertilizers be needed to repair the waste, 
Mexican phosphatic guanos, which are now 
offered at low prices, would doubtless be advan- 
tageous. 

" In the experiments by me, during the winter 
of 1855, and also at the farm of Mr. Peters, in 
September last, I was forcibly struck with the 
better quality of the juice grown in our section 
of country, as compared with that experi- 
mented upon by Mons. Vilmorin, whose paper 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 61 

will be found translated for the present year's 
Working Farmer, He gives the density of 
his sap at 1.050 to 1.075, while that examined 
by myself was uniformly found to be 1.085, with 
but little variation, and in every case some small 
corrections for temperature, which would increase 
the specific gravity slightly. The average density 
given by various observers in the West Indies, 
of juice from the several varieties of sugar-cane 
grown in these colonies, is about 9 degrees 
Baume, corresponding to a specific gravity of 
1.064, — less, considerably, than mine. From 
this fact, however, it is not to be inferred that 
the juice of our cane abounds more largely in 
saccharine matter than that of the West Indies ; 
for such probably is not the fact ; for the former 
is known to contain a larger proportion of salt 
and vegetable matters than the latter. It argues 
only the remarkable adaptation of the Chinese 
cane to our climate and soil. M. Vilmorin ob- 
tained from this ' sap ' of the densities named, 
from 1.050 to 1.075, on the 

13th of October, 1853, 10.04 per cent, saccharine matter. 
28th of November, " 13.08 " " " 

28th " (2nd trial) 14.06 " " " 

14th " 1854, 16.00 

Of the latter, 11.75 were uncrystallizable, and 



62 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE." 

but 4.25 of the crystallizable variety. M. Aye- 
quin obtained from the juice of this cane, grown, 
I presume, in Louisiana, 

Saccharine matter, .... 152 

Salts and organic matter, ... 10 

Water, 838 



Cane-juice employed, .... 1000 

I have not been able to compare these experi- 
ments with similar results obtained here. I pro- 
pose doing so the coming season. M. Vilmorin 
estimates the percentage of weight of juice ob- 
tained by him at 50 to 60 parts in the 100 of 
cane employed, and remarks that even 70 per 
cent, can be easily obtained by proper machinery. 
Mr. Peters obtained from his mill an average of 
50 per cent., and juice could be readily wTung 
from the begass by hand. Thirty canes w^ere 
sorted put and weighed by myself, and, after 
grinding, gave the following results : 



Thirty canes weighed, . 


. 


. 


. 52 lbs. 14 ounces. 


Juice collected, . 


, 


, 


. 26 " 1 " 


Begass, 


. 


. 


. 26 " 7 " 


Juice lost in mill, say, 


. 




6 " 



The juice actually extracted weighed precisely 
one half that of the cane used. Two pounds of 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 63 

the begass was weighed and carefully dried, and 
gave twelve ounces, showing a loss of one pound 
and four ounces of water, which represents 21yV 
ounces of juice ; so that the quantity of juice 
remaining behind in the begass may be put down 
at seventeen pounds, fifteen ounces. The result 
now stands. 

Juice collected, 26 pounds, 1 ounce, or 49.30 per cent. 

" lost in mill, 6 " or .70 " 

" in begass, 17 " 15 " or 34.05 " 

Woody fibre, 8 " 8 « or 15.05 " 



Cane used, 52 pounds, 14 ounces. 100 per cent. 

In other words, we have 84^ per cent, of juice, 
and 15^^ per cent, of woody fibre. From these 
figures it would seem that 70 per cent, in juice 
ought to be easily obtainable by proper machinery, 
and it becomes more apparent when we take into 
consideration the soft, compressible texture of 
this cane as compared to that of the West Indies. 
Mr. Peters states the yield of his best ^ acre in 
syrup at 58i gallons ; that of the poorest | acre 
at 43|^ gallons. Taking the average, we have, 
as the yield of the entire acre, 407 gallons; 
assuming the yield of the juice to correspond 
with the average results obtained by experiment, 
say 50 per cent, of the entire weight, with proper 
6* 



64 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

machinery, expressing 70 per cent., we have a 
yield of 570 gallons per acre. I examined care- 
fully the specimens of syrup boiled under the eye 
of Mr. Peters, and also by myself. Several of 
these specimens were of a superior quality, all 
of them surpassing my expectations, in view of 
the crude manner in which they w^ere made. 
There is present in all of them, to a greater or 
less degree (owing to differences in manipulation), 
a peculiar flavor, reminding one of the maple- 
sugar, which is very grateful to the palate, and 
gives it a decided preference over the article 
which we get under the name of New Orleans ' 
syrup. This, so far as I know, has been the uni- 
form judgment of all who have tasted it. These 
syrups give a precipitate of foreign matters with 
the basic acetate of lead (a delicate test), little, 
if at all, greater in amount than the New Orleans 
syrup. The precise nature of these precipitates 
remains to be ascertained and compared. The 
syrups vary considerably in density : those from 
the Chinese cane ranging from 1.298 to 1.335, 
while that of the New Orleans sample was 1.321. 
This variation in the density is an evil which 
should be corrected, to produce a good market- 
able syrup, which shall keep well. Samples of 
the Chinese cane syrup have been valued by the 



i 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 65 

intelligent dealers in the article, in our sec- 
tion, at from 65 to 75 cents the gallon, by the 
barrel. 

''In calculating the yield of this crop, we must 
take into consideration twelve hundred pounds of 
excellent fodder, and twenty-five bushels of corn, 
worth, as food for stock, say two thirds the value 
of the ordinary corn ; so that we can fairly off- 
set against the syrup crop, in the way of ex- 
penses, nothing more than the labor of its manu- 
facture, for the forage and corn will repay the 
expenses of the culture. A full consideration 
of the facts, which have been passed over some- 
what in detail, must make it evident to the mind 
of every intelligent farmer that this plant pre- 
sents, at the present time, a promise of reward 
for its culture unequalled by any which has been 
introduced upon our soil since the introduction 
of the cotton crop." 

The above information is of a very valuable 
character, such as I have not been able to get 
from any other source, and such as can be 
depended upon. It gives us rules for planting, 
harvesting, and manufacturing, which are, for 
the most part, applicable to any and all latitudes 
where the cane will grow. In regard to the use 
of lime, I would say that I should much prefer 



66 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

to use it, even if it did not assist in clarifying ; 
for we know it will neutralize the acid which the 
juice contains, and so make it more pleasant to 
the taste, and tend to preserve it longer. The 
syrup alluded to, which Mr. Peters made, I have 
seen ; and noticed that it was of a darker color, 
and not so heavy as that which I made, for the 
reason it was not boiled so much. Still, the syrup 
is such as would sell readily at the prices named 
by Prof. Battey. I add the following from the 
National Intelligencer : 

" The Chinese Sugar-cane has come to be the 
ordinary name of the Sorgho Sucre, a most val- 
uable plant of the sugar-cane order, and, there- 
fore, allied to the maize or Indian corn, but more 
nearly to the broom-corn. Its cultivation has 
commenced amongst us, and there is now in 
Washington more than an acre of it, growing 
luxuriantly, and promising a yield of considerably 
upwards of one hundred bushels of seed, besides 
many tons of stems and foliage, rich with sac- 
charine fluid and solid food, material for horses, 
neat cattle, and swine. Not only here, but in 
various and widely- distant parts of the Union, 
has trial been made of it, and with uniform 
gratifying results. We have read a letter from 
a farmer in Illinois, who has tested its character, 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 67 

and reports of it in the most favorable manner. 
Out of a gallon of the liquid sap in the stem, 
which he expressed by the primitive contrivance 
of a rolling-pin, he obtained, by boiling, a quart 
of molasses, with very little impurity, and of 
approved taste. The usual proportions of sugar 
to sap lie between fifteen and twenty per cent., 
the crystallizable sugar increasing with the de- 
crease of the latitude. Beside this proportion of 
sugar, there is an amount of perhaps five or eight 
per cent, of uncrystallizable sap, from which a 
very agreeable beverage can be made, and alco- 
hol distilled more cheaply than by any other 
method. This sap, strange to say, if set with 
the oxide of tin, will dye silk of a beautiful 
pink. As a food-plant for stock of all kinds, it 
seems to overtop all we now possess, furnishing, 
in fair soils, twenty -five tons per acre of excel- 
lent fodder, every bit of which is greedily eaten 
by animals. The seeds, too, by which the plant 
is propagated — in this, unlike and superior to 
the sugar-cane of Louisiana, which is raised by 
cuttings — are fit for human food. At all events, 
when ground and made up into cakes, after the 
manner of linseed cakes, they supply a good 
material for fattening stock. The brush, or top 
from which these seeds are taken, is not without 



68 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

its service ; for the plant is a species of broom- 
corn, and, therefore, its top, when deprived of 
seed, answers well wherewith to manufacture 
brooms. When the sap, top, seeds, and leaves, 
are taken, leaving only the crushed stem, it still 
has an economic value, for paper can be manu- 
factured from it. 

'' This valuable addition to our vegetable pro- 
ductions is originally a native of China, but has 
been sedulously cultivated for several years in 
South-eastern Caffraria, whence it passed into 
France and Algeria, in which last country it 
comes to great perfection. It would be hard to 
calculate its value. It constitutes every farm on 
which it is grown its own sugar-camp, orchard, 
winery, and granary, as well as a stock-farm and 
dairy. Indeed, the sorgho may be deemed a 
sort of vegetable sheep, every part and con- 
stituent of which is valuable.'' 

It still further says, in another article : 
" Among the exotic plants recently introduced 
into this country by the Patent Office, in the 
prosecution of its agricultural operations, is the 
Chinese Sugar-cane, or Sorgho Sucre {Sorghum 
Saccharatum). The history of its introduction, 
and some account of its success, have been, from 
time to time, laid before the public through the 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 69 

columns of the Intelligencer and other channels, 
exciting the scepticism of many, and even the 
derision of some, but, fortunately, awakening 
the curiosity and enterprise of discerning and 
intelligent agriculturists in various sections of 
the United States. We have now the gratifi- 
cation of realizing the happy results of the 
investigations and labors of this latter class in the 
successful cultivation, it is hoped and believed, of 
one of the most valuable products of the soil that 
has ever engaged the attention of the husband- 
man,— a product which there are well-grounded 
reasons for assuming will, of itself, in a brief 
period, more than recompense all the pecuniary 
aid and labor that have been bestowed upon the 
whole subject of agriculture by our government, 
in the introduction of a plant that may be propa- 
gated with advantage in every locality in the 
Union, that will provide an essential aliment and 
a luxury to every family at an exceedingly low 
cost, and that may before long enable us to 
export to various portions of the world an article 
of merchandise that we now import to the amount 
of nearly fifteen millions of dollars a year. It is 
a singular and gratifying coincidence that the 
introduction of this plant, and the discovery of its 
great excellence and adaptation to the soil and 



70 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

climate of many regions of the United States, 
should be made at the precise moment of the ap- 
parent decadence of the culture of the sugar-cane 
upon the plantations of the South. That this 
may not result to the disadvantage of the import- 
ant interests involved in these plantations, is not 
only desired but believed by those who are fos- 
tering the cultivation of the new plant ; for it 
appears to be the accepted opinion, that, though 
the latter may prosper in any locality in which 
maize or Indian corn succeeds, yet the soil and 
climate capable of producing the sugar-cane will 
prove the best adapted of all to the sorgho 
Sucre, and that it will hence flourish there in 
its greatest perfection." 

It will be seen that, though it is claimed that 
the cane will flourish best in the South, yet it is 
freely allowed that it wdll do well w^herever In- 
dian corn will flourish. If any doubts still exist 
in the mind of the reader, I hope to be able to 
remove them, so far as possible, before I finish. 

I shall next give an article from Prof. J.* J. 
Mapes, of Newark, New Jersey, which appears 
in the November number of the Working Farmer ^ 
entitled " Eefined Sugar from the Chinese Cane." 
Prof. Mapes is known to be au fait in all such 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 71 

matters, as we shall see from the valuable and 
practical matter below. 

" During the past season many new facts have 
occurred which cannot but interest our readers. 
Among these is the successful cultivation of the 
Chinese Sugar-cane, or Sorgho. We received a 
small package from the Farmer's Club of the 
American Institute, and have grown a few square 
rods. Messrs. Olcott and Vail, of the Westches- 
ter Farm School, at Mount Vernon, New York, 
have raised an acre, and both their experiments 
and our own, so far as pursued, seem to endorse 
the views of others. The stalks of the sorgho 
are more numerous than those of corn, and grow 
with us eleven feet high. The quantity of seed 
is very large, while the stalks and leaves are 
much sweeter than corn-stalks, and are readily 
eaten by cattle, being preferred by them to the 
stalks of the sweet- corn. Messrs. Olcott and Vail 
have made syrup from the juice, of a light straw- 
color, and in every way equal in flavor to that of 
the sugar-cane. If our friends in Carolina are 
right in their views of the value of this plant, — 
and we have no reason to doubt them, — it will 
enable a large portion of the Northern States to 
manufacture sugar of good quality — indeed, of 
any quality, as, from the improved method now 
7 



72 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

understood, white sugar (refined) may be made 
direct from the juice. The only difficulty in this 
manufacture consists in the fact that large man- 
ufactories alone can produce the best qualities at 
low cost ; and not until such factories can be 
established in districts capable of supplying the 
necessary quantities of canes can the best results 
be obtained. In the mean time, we will give 
such necessary directions for the manufacture of 
sugar from the juice of the sorgho as may be 
best availed of by the small operator. 

' ' When the grower intends to make sugar, he 
should pinch off the seed-heads before they are 
fully formed, or, indeed, as soon as they appear, 
thus causing the plants to give a larger yield of 
stronger juice. A cheap and effective mill for 
expressing the juice may be made of three roll- 
ers, arranged like the ordinary sugar-mill for 
West India use, but of small size. Two of 
the rollers should be on a horizontal plane, with 
a third roller above, and all geared to the same 
speed. Such a mill will separate much of the 
juice, and it may be used by hand or other 
power, as preferred. The great art of sugar- 
making is to get the largest quantity of crystals 
and the smallest of molasses or syrup, and this 
will depend in a great measure on the rapidity 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 73 

of the process. Even the quality of the molas- 
ses itself is dependent upon its rapid concentra- 
tion during the early stages of manufacture. 
All must have observed that a freshly broken or 
cut apple, if exposed to the atmosphere, will 
become brown in a short time ; and a similar 
effect is constantly going on with cane-juice, 
from the time it is expressed until its final con- 
centration. 

'' The apparatus for clarifying, concentration, 
etc., so should be constructed as to insure the 
greatest rapidity of action. In a small way 
brass kettles may be used ; but for larger opera- 
tions, requiring new ones to be constructed, they 
should be of copper. The use of alkalies in 
clarifying has long been known, and their excess- 
ive use often injures the quality of the results. 
The operator should supply himself with three 
kettles, two large and one small. The juice, as 
soon as expressed, should be placed in one of the 
large kettles, and to which should be added — 
say to ten gallons — half a tea-spoonful of cream 
of lime, one pound of finely-ground and freshly- 
burned bone-black, and two ounces of bullock's 
blood, or the whites of two eggs, or half a pint 
of skim milk, — either will do. The blood or 
eggs, if used, should be beaten, and then well 



74 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

divided tlirougliout the mass, stirring all cold, 
and during the early part of the heating. The 
process in this kettle should he conducted some- 
what slowly, and if the kettle be large enough 
to permit all the scum to rise without overflow- 
ing it, the scum need not be removed, as it will 
remain on top of the fluid, becoming more and 
more compact. The juice should not be allowed 
to boil or simmer. After the clarification is 
perfect, the scum on top will crack open in all 
directions, and white, sparkling bubbles will rise 
through these cracks, overflowing the top of the 
scum, and it will turn over in masses. The scum 
may be taken off and the juice thrown on a 
blanket in an open basket, thus partially filter- 
ing the mass. 

" It should then be placed in kettle No. 2, 
and boiled as rapidly as possible until a thermom- 
eter placed in it will indicate 220 degrees of 
Fahrenheit, when it should be again filtered. 
The first portion passing the filter should be 
returned, as it will not be quite clear. The 
whole will then be bright, and may be put into 
kettle No. 3, V\^hich need be but half the size of 
the others, and should be placed on a clear, 
strong fire, and so arranged that it can be read- 
ily taken from the fire at short notice. Place in 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 75 

this kettle a thermometer — it will commence 
boiling at 220 degrees, and gradually increase 
to 240 degrees ; the instant it reaches that 
point it should be taken from the fire suddenly, 
for if permitted to rise to 241 degrees, or more, 
it can never be purged. Let it stand in this 
kettle until a slight crust commences to form on 
the sides and top, then scrape .this down with a 
wooden spatula, thin at the end and edges, and 
stir all until evenly mixed with the more fluid 
portions ; then pour into a conical sugar-mould, 
stopped at its lower end, and place the nose of 
this mould on a drip-pot. This sugar-mould 
should be of the kind known as the Bastar- 
mould, and it and the drip should stand in a warm 
place. The next day the sugar in the mould 
will be solid, and the plug in the bottom of the 
mould may be withdrawn and an incision made 
upward with a pegging-aAvl, replacing the mould 
on the drip-pot. The sugar or molasses will 
gradually drip from the nose of the mould into 
the pot, and the time necessary for this purging 
will depend upon the heat of the apartment 
where it is placed ; usually the syrup will all 
run off in the natural way in a week or ten 
days, leaving the sugar in the mould of a light 
straw-color. If the operator desires to make 
7* 



76 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

the sugar white, he may do so by the process of 
claying, or liquoring. We were several years 
engaged in sugar-refining, making sugar, etc., 
and shall be fully prepared to give all the neces- 
sary particulars both for large and small manu- 
facture, should the experience of next year 
prove the practicability of Northern sugar- 
making. 

'' From the experiments made in Georgia we 
cannot but believe that in the Middle States, at 
least, this new industry may possibly be profita- 
bly prosecuted. In the large w\ay, the expense 
of manufacture need not be so great as named by 
Mr. Peters, — ten to fifteen cents per gallon. 
Indeed, from our experiments with the stalks for 
feeding purposes, w^e think the unripe portions 
of the canes, or those not in the best order for 
sugar-making, added to the begass, or pressed 
canes, and cut up in the ordinary way, would be 
worth as much for fodder as the cost of the sugar- 
making, in such localities as can supply them- 
selves cheaply with fuel, etc. 

" It will be remembered, that while the Hon. 
II. L. Ellsworth was Commissioner of Patents, at 
Washington, he was much interested in the man- 
ufacture of sugar from corn-stalks ; and in con- 
sequence of the excitement at that time we 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 77 

raised a quantity of sugar, or sweet corn, for the 
purpose of sugar-making, pinching off the fruit 
as fast as it appeared — and thus forcing all the 
secretions of the plant into the stalk. The 
growth was very large, and the juice highly 
charged with sugar, its strength indicating lOJ 
degrees on Baume's saccharometer, being stronger 
than the best Louisiana cane-juice, and, of 
course, capable of giving more sugar per gallon ; 
but, unfortunately, so few gallons per acre as 
not to give a paying result. We made refined 
sugar from these corn-stalks, and that year exhib- 
ited at the American Institute several loaves of 
corn-stalk sugar." 

I think I cannot more profitably occupy the 
space than by continuing these reports from dif- 
ferent parts of the country ; for by them each 
one will be able to judge for himself whether we 
have got in this cane a plant adapted to our 
various latitudes. 

Extract from a statement of Joseph C. Ortli^ of Illinois, 
from Patent Office Report of 1855. 

' ' Profiting by the remark printed upon the 
paper which contained the seeds, — ' good for 
fodder, green or dry, and for making sugar,' — 
I cut off a few stalks and offered them to my 



78 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

horses and cattle, which ate them with apparent 
good rehsh, and seemed to ask for more. I then 
concluded that, as a part of its recommendations 
were true, I should also try the other, and man- 
ufacture sugar from the juice. Its stalk being 
very long and heavy, and exceedingly rich in 
juice, and to the taste, in its natural state, 
almost as sweet as molasses, no doubt remained 
upon my mind that it was what it was said to 
be. I cut six stalks, placed them successively 
upon a flat board, took a rolling-pin, and, as 
well as this simple machine enabled it to be 
done, expressed and saved the juice. The result 
was, I obtained two tumblers-full, but half was 
not saved. This was then boiled down, and 
produced one of the same tumblers half-full of 
good, pleasant-tasted molasses, about as thick as 
the common molasses obtained in the shops. But, 
as my object was simply to ascertain the quan- 
tity rather than the quality of saccharine matter 
contained, this juice was neither strained nor 
clarified, and therefore its taste was not equal to 
what it would be under more careful treatment. 
From all I could observe concerning this plant, 
I am fully convinced that 15 per cent, of good 
clarified sugar could be obtained from the juice. 
My experiment produced about 25 per cent, of 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 79 

molasses. This, it would seem, is evidence strong 
enough to warrant a more extended trial of its 
merits ; and if it will in any way supply the 
place of cane-sugar, it must of necessity become 
a very important and valuable acciuisition to the 
agricultural products of the Middle and Northern 
States. I am fully satisfied that it will ripen in 
north latitude 42% which is about the northern 
limit of Illinois." 

Extract of a statement of Samuel Clapham, of Suffolk 
County, New York : 

'' Early in ]May last I received a small parcel 
of the seeds of the Chinese Sugar-cane {Sorghum 
Saccharatum), which I cultivated somewhat after 
the method of Indian corn. The proper time 
for planting, however, I should say would be the 
same as that of early corn, as I find it quite 
hardy ; and stalks of it cut down the end of 
October made fresh shoots after two rather heavy 
frosts, and still were good for feed. From 
twenty-five plants I obtained half a bushel of 
ripe seed. 



# 



'' Although in this part of the country I look 
upon this plant as of great value as a forage 
crop, yet possibly it may be profitably cultivated 



80 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

for sugar, as the juice contains nearly ten per 
cent, of saccharine matter as clear as crystal, 
and, on a very small scale, beautiful clarified 
sugar was produced by my friend Dr. Ray." 

D. Minis, of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, 
writes thus : ' ' Last spring I received from the 
Patent Office a small parcel of the seeds of the 
Chinese Sugar-cane. I planted it about the 20th 
of May, although it might have been sown ten 
or fifteen days earlier ; but, fearing that it might 
be injured by a late frost, I preferred to plant it 
thus late. I planted it in the centre of a twenty- 
acre field in two rows, with the hills about three 
and a half feet apart, with from two to six seeds 
in each hill. Where the plants were three or 
four to a hill they grew the most vigorously, and 
seemed to produce the most perfect seed. I gave 
them no extra culture, either in labor or manure : 
the plants had no protection from sunshine or 
storm before I secured the seed. The given 
weight of the crop on a given space, growing as 
it did with me the past season, I think would be 
nearly or quite equal to that of Indian corn.'' 

D. J. Browne, Esq., of the Patent Office, 
Washington, D. C, in his late report, thus 
speaks of the Chinese Sugar-cane : " Since its 
introduction into this country it has proved 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 81 

itself well adapted to our geographical range of 
Indian corn. It is of easy cultivation, being 
similar to that of maize, or broom-corn ; and, if 
the seeds are planted in May in the Middle 
States, or still earlier at the South, two crops of 
fodder can be grown in a season from the same 
roots, irrespective of drouth : the first one in 
June or July, to be cut before the panicles 
appear, which will be green and succulent, like 
young Indian corn ; and the other a month or 
two later, when or before the seed is fully 
matured. The amount of fodder which it will 
produce to the acre, with ordinary cultivation, 
may be safely estimated at seven tons when 
green, or at least two tons per acre when 
thoroughly cured. The stalks when nearly 
mature are filled with a rich saccharine juice, 
which may be converted into sugar, syrup, alco- 
hol, or beer, or may be used for dyeing wool or 
silk a permanent red or pink ; and the entire 
plant is devoured with avidity, either in a green 
or dry state, by horses, cattle, sheep, and swine. 
Considered in a utilitarian point of view, this 
plant perhaps has stronger claims on the Ameri- 
can agriculturists than any other product that 
has been brought to this country since the intro- 
duction of cotton or wheat. Aside from other 



82 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

economical uses, its value for feeding to animals 
alone, in every section of the Union where it will 
thrive, cannot be surpassed by any other crop, 
as a greater amount of nutritious fodder cannot 
be obtained so cheap on a given space within so 
short a period of time. Without wishing to pre- 
sent the question in an extravagant light, it may 
be stated that this crop is susceptible of being 
cultivated within the territory of the United 
States to an extent equal to that of Indian corn, 
say, 25,000,000 acres per annum ; and estimat- 
ing the average yield of dry or cured fodder to 
the acre at two tons, the yearly amount produced 
woukl be 50,000,000 tons, which, to keep within 
bounds, would be worth at least $500,000,000, 
besides the profit derived from the animals in 
milk, flesh, labor, and wool." 

The above article is from the gentleman who 
introduced this sugar-cane into this country, and 
from this fact, as well as his connection with the 
Patent Office, is competent to judge of its merits. 
The evidence given by him is fully sufficient to 
induce every farmer to try it for fodder, if for 
no other purpose. 

A writer in the Chicago Free Press expresses 
the opinion that "in 1860 the Southern planter 
will have no sale for his sugar in the State of 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 83 

Illinois. From present indications, there will be 
one hundred acres of Chinese Sugar-cane raised 
in Wabash county, next year, which will save 
the county |10,000.'^ 

I now give the results that have attended the 
growing of Chinese Sugar-cane in the New 
England States. Most of the accounts previously 
given were from persons at the South and West. 
The reason I shall not be able to give so full an 
account of its culture and manufacture at the 
North is that it has not been so extensively 
tried ; in fact, but few persons, so far as I am 
able to judge, have heretofore thought it worthy 
of notice. Among those who have given it a 
trial is the editor of the Amherst {N. H.) Cabi- 
net, to whom I am indebted for the following : 

"We have frequently alluded to our experi- 
ment in raising the Chinese Sugar-cane, from 
seed received at the Patent Office. We are 
entirely satisfied that it can be raised with great 
profit in this locality, either for fodder or for the 
making of sugar or molasses. We have in a 
small way tested it for both, and think we can 
satisfy the most incredulous that our farmers can 
raise molasses and sugar to better advantage 
than they can either corn or potatoes. Our seed 
we received late, and planted after corn was 
8 



84 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

generally up. When about a foot in height, it 
encountered a violent hail-storm, which seriously 
damaged its growth, so that it is doubtful 
whether the seed is sufficiently ripe to be relia- 
ble ; and we shall accordingly secure a supply 
for ourselves and others, to whom we have prom- 
ised it, from Washington or elsewhere. Prefer- 
ring securing the seed to experiments in sugar- 
making, we allowed our cane to stand beyond 
the proper season for the latter purpose, and 
after gathering it stood several weeks before 
used. Last week, finding election over, and no 
firing to do, and but little to interest us in the 
papers, we essayed to convert the product of six 
hills, planted like corn, into molasses. We run 
thirty-two stalks through a hay-cutter, and with 
our standing press and a cheese-hoop took there- 
from three quarts of clear and rich juice, which, 
being boiled to the consistence of sugar-house 
molasses, yielded one pint. The flavor is very 
agreeable, and the color and appearance nearly 
that of honey ; and it is the universal opinion of 
those who have tested it that it is superior to 
any Southern molasses." 

I will next give the success of one of my 
neighbors, and an esteemed friend, Mr. Jonathan 
Stone, of East Newton, who raised some of the 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 85 

sugar-cane the past season. It was quite late 
before he received the seed, so that it was not 
planted until about the first of June. It was put 
into hills, in a cabbage-field, where the cabbages 
had failed. It received but little attention until 
quite late in the autumn, after there had been 
several frosts, so that the leaves were all killed. 
About the middle of October, Mr. Stone, at my 
suggestion, expressed the juice from a number 
of stalks, boiled it down, without using lime or 
any other substance either to clarify or to neu- 
tralize the acid, and obtained a beautiful article 
of syrup, such as my own cane furnished. The 
seed did not ripen well, on account of the lateness 
of planting. The cane grew in this short time 
to over ten feet in height. It will be seen by 
this that the cane may be, if planted early in 
the season, grown even in Massachusetts, so that 
there would, ordinarily, be a whole month to 
manufacture sugar or syrup. We also learn, by 
this, that no extra amount of manure or labor 
is necessary to raise the cane of good size. 

Mr. John A. Kenrick, also of Newton, raised 
some of the sugar-cane. He started it in a hot- 
bed, and then transplanted it into hills in the 
field, where it grew to the height of eleven feet, 



86 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

and very stout, the best specimens I have ever 
seen. It ripened its seed well. 

A correspondent of the Boston Atlas commu- 
nicates the following, concerning an experiment 
made in this state with this plant : " The seeds 
were planted on the 14th of last. June, in the 
same manner as corn is usually planted. The 
canes grew to the height of ten feet, and spin- 
dled like broom-corn, but did not ripen any seed. 
About the 10th of October, the crop of about 
forty canes was harvested. The juice was ex- 
pressed by means of a sugar-mill, such as used 
by grocers for crushing sugar. The forty canes 
yielded about two pints and a half, which was 
boiled down to syrup." 

From the New England Farmer we clip the 
following, written by J. J. H. Gregory, of Mar- 
blehead, Mass. : ''About the middle of last June 
I received a small package of the seed of the 
Chinese Sugar-cane. On the 18th of the same 
month I planted a few seed for experiment, from 
which one hill of seven plants was reserved. 
These thrived well, and at the time of the first 
heavy frost had attained a growth of about ten 
feet, with the seed at the tops apparently full- 
sized, but, as was anticipated from the shortness 
of the growing season, not well filled, and scarcely 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 87 

colored. From six of the stalks the juice was 
expressed and boiled down to the consistency 
of common molasses, yielding about a common 
coiFee-cup full (or one and two thirds gills) of 
a rich syrup, which our grocers considered to be 
richer flavored than ordinary molasses, equal 
in quality to the syrup of commerce. Please 
accept, with my best wishes, Mr. Editor, the 
accompanying sample of the molasses.'' 

The editor says : ' ' Friend Gregory will please 
accept thanks for his fine specimen of Chinese 
sugar-cane molasses, — an article, we trust, yet 
to be generally introduced as one of our staple 
New England crops. It is a syrup rather than 
molasses, the latter being an article drained from 
sugar. Let it have a more extensive trial, an- 
other season.'' 

A gentleman in Dorchester, Mass., grew the 
cane last year, and the seed ripened some weeks 
before the frost came. This goes to show what 
I have said in another place, that in a good 
season, when we have warm weather, — warmer 
than the past season has been, — this plant would 
fully mature by the 1st to the 10th of Septem- 
ber. * It is true this would give but a short time 
to manufacture a quantity of sugar or syrup, 
unless a great many hands were employed. And 
8* 



88 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

this would involve a large outlay for a mill, or 
mills, kettles, &c., which would be indispensable 
on a large place. The climate of Louisiana 
allows the planter from sixty to ninety days to 
secure his crop ; and even this often proves too 
short, for the frosts come on, and put a stop to 
the sugar operations. 

I find the following in the Massachusetts 
Ploughman, in regard to the new cane, and the 
syrup manufactured therefrom. It is from Mr. 
Foster Bryant, of Mansfield, Mass., a gentleman 
well knOAvn to the public : 

'' To THE Editor of the Ploughman. — Sir : 
With this I send you a sample of syrup obtained 
from the Sorgho Sucre. I received a package of 
seeds from the Patent Office, which I planted in 
hills three feet apart in a single row, and on 
land varying from the capacity of 14 hills to a 
bushel of potatoes up to 60. On the good land 
the plants attained the height of ten feet, while 
on the poorest the height did not exceed three 
feet six inches. I suffered six stalks in a hill 
to grow. Hoed but twice ; planted in the mid- 
dle of May ; land moderately manured broad- 
cast, but not in the hill. I could not obtain 
rollers to crush the stalks, and therefore resorted 
to the expedient of splitting and boiling in water. 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 89 

I do not suppose I obtained more than half of the 
saccharine sap by this method ; while the added 
water greatly protracted evaporation, which, hav- 
ing been performed in an iron kettle, has proba- 
bly heightened the color, and for aught I know 
imparted a somewhat peculiar taste. I can give 
no information touching the cost of the syrup ; 
and, being ignorant of the art of making sugar, I 
made no attempt to procure the latter. 

" I think land that Avill grow fifty bushels of 
corn to the acre will bear a heavy crop of the 
sorgho Sucre ; but I very much doubt if our sea- 
son is long enough to ripen the seed, unless the 
plants are brought forward in a hot-house. In 
my case, the seeds were not fully formed when 
the heavy frosts occurred, the first of which made 
ice one quarter of an inch thick, without white 
frost. This apparently did not injure the plants. 
The following night a heavy white frost occurred, 
and the leaves were shrivelled and dry before 
midday, but the stalks showed no change. I cut 
them the same afternoon.'' 

The editor comments as follows : ''We have 
received a bottle of the saccharine matter from 
Mr. Bryant, and given it a taste. It is of much 
the same flavor as the sap of the sugar-maple, 
when boiled dov^n to the degree of consistence. 



90 THE CHINESE SUGxiR-CANE. 

We thank Mr. B. for his specimen of the sap 
thus prepared ; and hope others will be induced 
to groAV this plant, on a small scale at first, for 
it may prove a superior article for fattening ani- 
mals, if not for making sugar.'' 

Notwithstanding Mr. Bryant did not succeed 
in ripening the seed, many others have, even in 
Massachusetts, so that we need not doubt on 
that score. And even if the seed should not all 
ripen, or any part of it, the cost of seed would 
be but little ; for it can be imported in great 
abundance from France, or brought from the 
South, so that it will undoubtedly be furnished 
in a year or two for less than fifty cents per 
pound. It will also be seen by the above that 
the stalks did not receive any apparent injury, 
even from a heavy frost, though I very much 
doubt whether it would be best to run the risk. 
It has been found to flourish as far north as 
Minnesota, where it has attained the height of 
twelve to fifteen feet. So in the, New England 
States, where it has not only grown well, but 
ripened its seeds. It has been grown to some 
extent by many persons through the New Eng- 
land States, as well as in other portions of the 
country, and the universal testimony is, " It 
grew well with uf., but we did not try it for 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 91 

sugar or syrup/' I have not thought it best to 
take more space in giving accounts of experi- 
ments, presuming that enough have already been 
given. 

The following brief hints may be of use to 
those who propose to enter upon its cultiva- 
tion : 

1. Select a warm and dry soil, such as you 
would select for Indian corn. 

2. Prepare your ground precisely as you 
would for corn, either by spreading your ma- 
nure, or putting in hills, — about the same dis- 
tance between the hills, wdiere the ground is 
rich. 

3. In planting, which should be done early, 
put into each hill six or eight seeds. Cover 
lightly w^ith well-pulverized soil, — say, three 
fourths to one inch deep ; pull out all but four 
or five at second hoeing. If planted in drills, 
seed enough should be used so that after hoeing 
there may be a stalk to every four or five inches ; 
from a pound and a half to two pounds of seed 
should be used. 

4. Cultivate and hoe as with corn ; care should 
be taken that the ignorant do not hoe up the 
young plants, taking them for barn-grass, which 
they very much resembla 



92 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

5. When the panicles appear, they should be 
cut off of all that which is intended for sugar or 
syrup making. 

6. When the plant has just passed into bloom, 
the stalk may be used for syrup, but will con- 
tinue to grow better until the seed is in the milk- 
stage, or little later. 

7. The stalks should be cut close to the 
ground, with a bill-hook or some such tool, and 
stripped of their leaves, and the green, succulent 
top cut off, when they are ready for the mill ; 
the leaves and top may be fed green to cattle, or 
dried. 

8. The stalks should be passed through the 
mill twice or more, until most or all of the juice 
is expressed. 

9. The juice should not be allowed to stand 
long after being expressed, but boiled at once, if 
possible. A slow fire should be made under the 
kettle, — which should be of brass, or much bet- 
ter of copper, — and the juice should not be 
allowed to boil until the green scum has all been 
taken off. Lime-water may be used to aid in 
clarifying and to neutralize the acid ; the exact 
quantity is not yet determined, but to every five 
gallons of juice, say, from one to two tea-spoons- 
ful of powdered lime, or the same dissolved in 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 93 

water, and strained, before being put into the 
juice. 

10. When all the green scum has been re- 
moved, the fire may be increased, and the juice 
boiled down until nearly as thick as common 
molasses in hot weather, when, if intended for 
syrup, it should be removed from the fire, for 
this completes the process. If intended for 
sugar, it should be allowed to boil longer, and 
until it will " string into threads," or present 
an appearance of being sufficiently boiled to 
grain, when it should be thrown off into troughs, 
or coolers, at once. I am not able to give exact 
information in regard to the time it should be 
boiled to crystallize readily. Further experi- 
ments will determine. 

11. If made into sugar, it should be removed 
from the coolers to casks with holes bored in 
them, so that the molasses may drain off and 
leave the sugar dry, as it should be. These 
casks are generally placed on timbers, with a 
cement cistern underneath to hold the drippings, 
or molasses. After remaining in the "purgery" 
until sufficiently drained, it comes out fit for 
sale, or use. 

12. If cultivated exclusively for fodder, it 
should be planted as early as the weather will 



94 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

allow, and quite as thick as stover-corn. When 
the panicles appear, or even before, it may be 
cut either for soiling or for drying, and the roots 
will at once throw up another crop. 

13. If it is desired, the juice may be fer- 
mented, like the juice of apples, being put into 
casks at the mill, and treated like cider. 

14. The begass, or waste, may be dried and 
used for fuel, or for making paper, or rotted 
down for manure. 

15. If the storms should blow down the seed- 
cane, no fears need be entertained, as it will 
remain weeks in that condition without injury. 
I must here caution all persons who grow this 
cane against planting it in the vicinity of broom- 
corn, Dourah-corn, or Guinea-corn ; for it readily 
mixes with these plants, and it would render the 
seed worthless for planting. 

I think I have sufficiently shown that the 
Chinese Sugar-cane may be grown, both North 
and South, with success, either for sugar and 
syrup making, or fodder, or some of the many 
other uses to which this wonderful plant is 
adapted. It may be, and doubtless is true, that 
the climate of the South is better adapted to the 
production of sugar, inasmuch as there will be a 
greater amount of crystallizable sugar obtained 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 95 

from the same amount of juice than at the North ; 
and also that the seed will be more sure of ripen- 
ing, and better in some respects after it is 
ripened, may also be true. But this. should not 
prevent the North from engaging in its culture, 
by any means ; for, even though it should cost as 
much to produce sugar on our own farms as we 
could buy it for in the market, yet I believe very 
many would choose to make their own ; for, aside 
from the fact that many would prefer sugar pro- 
duced on free soil by free labor, they would 
rather make it themselves, and thus turn their 
labor into money, than pay out the ready cash 
for an article grown in a foreign country, or even 
at the South. But, should it turn out, after it 
has been fully tried, that we cannot profitably 
make sugar from this cane at the North, then I 
take it the cane would be grown for syrup-mak- 
ing ; and the only possible thing there will be to 
prevent this — for I think I have shown beyond 
contradiction that this can be done at the North 
— may be that the South can produce as good 
syrup, and deliver it at our doors for a much less 
price than we can do it. But I don't believe 
that that can be done ; for I see no reason 
why we should not be able to compete with 
them in this article, for certainly they will labor 
9 



96 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

under the disadvantage of bringing it here for a 
market, while we shall have ours on the very spot. 
After the mill has been set up and the boilers 
arranged, there will be but little expense except 
for labor and fuel. In regard to the former, I 
believe free labor can and always will compete 
successfully with slave labor, give it an equal 
chance ; in regard to the latter, the begass may, 
and possibly will, be used for fuel in some 
places, as in the West Indies, where it supplies 
nearly all the fuel required both to run the steam- 
engine and to boil the syrup. I believe the 
time will come when we may revel in sweets 
grown upon our own free soil, either from this 
cane or other saccharine plants that will be 
introduced. Glorious results are to follow the 
introduction of this plant, if all our anticipations 
are realized, when the poor as well as the rich 
shall have the sweets of life within their reach ; 
for it is the masses we would benefit. The rich 
can obtain sugar, let it cost what it will; bat not 
so with the laboring man, — he must be deprived 
of this luxury, if the prices advance as they have 
for the past two years. But let us not get 
excited on this subject, so that the Chinese 
Sugar-cane excitement will be classed with the 
Merino sheep fever, the Morus multicaulis, 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 97 

Eohan potato, Fowl, and other fevers that have 
had their day, and are only recollected as speci- 
mens of our folly as a people. This new plant 
is no humbug, but I believe a downright valua- 
ble article. Careful experiments yet to be made 
will determine how valuable. Let each and 
every agriculturist try it another season, — on a 
small scale, if he chooses, but at any rate try it 
and judge for himself. I shall plant at least an 
acre, and with a perfect sugar-mill, and other 
apparatus w^hich I mean to obtain, I shall make 
thorough and careful experiments, which wdll be 
given to the public at the end of the season. 
Many there are who stand ready to denounce this, 
as all new things, as a humbug, and a worth- 
less article. To such I say, suspend your judg- 
ment until a fair trial has been made, until it 
has been proved worthless, and then I will join 
with you heartily in denouncing it. 

In closing, let me say that my object has been 
to give the reader all the facts within my reach ; 
and, though I may not have succeeded in giving 
all the information that may be needed, the 
reason, I think, will be apparent to all. It being 
a new thing, of which little was known until 
its introduction into the United States, and the 
time has been so short for us to experiment with 



98 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

it that it is not in the power of any one to give 
accurate rules for its cultivation, treatment, &c., 
or to speak positively of its properties and merits. 
I have given briefly some rules in regard to its 
culture, &c., but they must necessarily be imper- 
fect, as they are founded only on my own experi- 
ence of one year, with what I have obtained from 
others who have grown it during the past season. 
I have not intended to over-color the remarks I 
have made ; and in the selections I have given 
both sides are shown, — the dark as well as the 
bright. I have been able to obtain letters from 
distinguished gentlemen, fully competent to speak 
on this subject, and who have had some experi- 
ence. Their opinions, you will agree with me, 
are entitled to great weight in this matter. 

LETTER OF HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER, PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

Dorchester, Dec. Idth, 1856. 
J. F. C. Hyde, Esq. 

Dear Sir : Your favor, requesting a word from me in 

relation to the New Chinese Cane [Hokus Saccharatns), the 

product of which was exhibited at the late show of the United 

States Agricultural Society, is received. Several samples 

of s\rup made from this cane were presented by Col. Peters, 

of Georgia ; and, in my judgment, it was one of the most 

important articles on exhibition, connected with agriculture. 

No subject has excited more deep and universal interest 

throughout the country, for many years, than the introduction 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 99 

of this new plant. Col. Peters is therefore entitled to great 
credit for the exposition of this article in this public manner, 
and also for the detailed statements which he gave of his 
method of cultivation, manufacture, and the result of his 
operations. I was happy to learn, on my return home, that 
yourself and others had been equally successful with that 
gentleman, and that it is your intention to give the subject 
further investigation. This cane has been grown during the 
past season with as much success in the Eastern and Western 
States as in Georgia and the extreme South, and presents to 
our farmers the prospect of producing their sugar and molas- 
ses as easily as almost any other crop. It is capable of being 
cultivated wherever Indian corn will succeed, and, of course, 
to the same extent, and to a much greater profit. Col. Peters 
writes me that he shall plant one hundred acres next year ; 
others are proposing to plant largely. If it can be manufac- 
tured into sugar, or molasses, of which there seems to be no 
reasonable doubt, it is impossible to predict the importance 
of this crop to American agriculturists, or to the country at 
large. Go on, my dear sir ! You are on the right track. 
This is not the only species of the imphees, or sugar-cane, to 
be brought to notice. There are other varieties in Caffraria 
and Algeria, which are said to be very superior ; and it is to 
be hoped that the vessel which has recently been sent out by 
the government of the United States will not return without 
bringing a supply of these plants, or the seed of them, so as 
to place at an early day before our yeomanry all the informa- 
tion that can be obtained on this most interesting subject. 

Yours, with great respect, 
Marshall P. Wilder. 

The following letter from Gov. Gardner will be 
read with interest. 



100 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

Boston, 18th Bee, 1856. 
James F. C. Hyde, Esq. 

My Dear Sir : I hasten to reply to your note of the 16th, 
relative to my experience and impressions regarding the sus- 
ceptibility of the cultivation of the Chinese Sugar-cane in our 
climate. 

In the autumn of 1855, I learned that an esteemed friend, 
and a neighbor in the summer season, Benjamin Hemmenway, 
Esq., of Dorchester, had grown some sugar-cane upon his 
lands, and that it had matured and given evidence of being 
well stocked with saccharine matter. Feeling an interest in 
the subject, I applied for some seeds of his own growth, which 
he kindly gave me. 

I planted them in hills, quite late in June, 1856. I con- 
fess they were put into the ground so late in the season I did 
not expect them to reach maturity, and my chief object was 
to know if seeds grown in our latitude would ripen suffi- 
ciently to germinate and produce full-sized cane. There was 
no doubt that exotic seeds, brought from warmer climates, 
would grow more or less perfectly the first year ; but it is a 
totally different question whether the seeds of such plants will 
again sprout and grow to perfection. 

Not anticipating my cane would ripen, I took but little 
trouble in planting the seed ; and it is worthy of note, that it 
was planted in a tolerably rich loam, but without any manure. 
In a short time the plants appeared, looking like hills of corn, 
and nothing was done for it excepting keeping down the weeds, 
saving that it was moistened three or four times with a weak 
solution of guano and water. I planted thirty hills in two 
rows, five seeds in a hill, and about the same space between 
the hills that is adopted in planting corn, one end of the rows 
running under a very large elm-tree. The cane grew with 
great rapidity, but there was soon a very obvious difference 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 101 

between those hills that were shaded and those that were 
wholly exposed to the sun ; and, in the end, not only a varia- 
tion in the height of nearly one half, but those that were the 
most shaded failed altogether to spindle out into seed-blossoms. 

The extreme height of the most favored hills must have 
ranged from ten to twelve feet ^ judging by the eye, and nearly 
or quite every seed planted threw up a stalk. Notwithstand- 
ing I had not hoped, owing to the period of its planting, it 
would mature, much of it did; and, though an early October 
frost checked it (for it was on low land), a good part of the 
seed ripened, and I propose planting some of it the next year, 

I think the following facts are satisfactorily developed from 
my experiments : 

First. That seed grown here will produce plants as perfect 
as the imported seed : in other words, that the cane can be 
perfectly acclimated in our state. 

Second. That it will probably mature in any season when 
Indian corn will. 

Third. That it requires a sunny exposure, as corn does. 

Fourth. That it does not need excessive artificial fertiliza- 
tion : or, in other words, does not excessively exhaust and 
impoverish the soil. 

Fifth. That, as a green fodder, it produces more food for 
cattle on same space and at same cost than corn. 

Sixth. That cattle prefer it to corn fodder ; for I repeat- 
edly gave it mixed with corn-stalks to cows, and it was amusing 
to see them carefully select the sugar-cane from the corn-stalks, 
eating the former first, as I have seen hogs pick out pears 
fro)n apples. 

Seventh. That it is much more juicy and nutritious for 
milch cows than any other fodder ; for it is well known that 
sugar contains more nourishment than almost any vegetable 
production in daily use. 



102 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

You will notice I have made no reference to the possibility 
of this interesting plant containing sufficient saccharine mat- 
ter to enable it to be converted into sugar and molasses at such 
rates as to successfully compete with the sugars of Louisiana, 
Texas, and the West Indies. Yet there is no doubt but that 
it far surpasses the sugar-beet in this respect, which has for 
many years in France produced those articles profitably ; and 
as little do I question but that it possesses more properties of 
the Caribbean cane-syrup than the maple, from which consid- 
erable quantities of sugar are annually manufactured in vari- 
ous parts of New England. 

In fact, it may be found that it is as well adapted to the 
manufacture of these necessary articles of domestic economy 
as the cane of our Southern States. Should such prove to be 
the case, an immense industrial revolution is at our doors, the 
results of which must be as gratifying as stupendous. Many 
millions of dollars, doubtless, are annually sent away from 
New England to purchase Southern sugars, which will then be 
kept at home to enrich the .producer upon the hill-sides and 
in the valleys of our section of country. And, better than 
all, one great staple, which is almost the exclusive growth of 
slave labor, which props up that institution and adds to its 
continuance, will be wrested from its tottering basis. 

Vigorously pursue any practical course of economic effort 
which will tend to make slave labor less profitable, and you 
do more to bring about that prophetic and certain day " when 
bondage shall exist no longer," and " the enslaved shall go 
free," than by all the refinement of political ethics, or even 
the crushing influence of exotic humanity. Christian sympathy, 
and popular sentiment. 

In the latter view of this question, especially, is it our duty 
to pursue a thorough and systematic course of experiments, 
to fully ascertain the capabilities of this new plant. I rejoice 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 103 

that a gentleman of your perseverance and intelligence is 
determined to aid in accomplishing this end. Count me not 
only as your well-wisher, but pecuniary aider, if necessary ; 
and I earnestly hope success may crown your efforts. 

I omitted to say the specimen of molasses of your own 
growth and manufacture from this cane duly reached me. It 
tastes deliciously, and looks promising, realizing the proverb 
that " the product of one's own labor is sweet.'''' 

Should any facts in this note be of service to you, please 
make what use you please of them, and believe me 

Very truly yours, 

Henry J. Gardner. 

FROM CHARLES L. FLINT, ESQ., SECRETARY OF THE MASSACHU- 
SETTS BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

State-House, Boston, Dec. 22d, 1856. 
Dear Sir : 

I have had opportunities of various kinds to learn some- 
thing of the success which has attended the culture of the 
Chinese Sugar-cane, and am happy to hear that you are pre- 
paring a treatise upon it which will embrace, no doubt, all 
that is at present known among us of its natural history, its 
comparative value, and the best modes of cultivating it. Such 
a work, I am sure, is greatly needed as a guide for our exper- 
iments in the introduction of a plant new, at least, to us, and 
which promises to prove so valuable. Many a new plant and 
many a new implement of husbandry is thrown aside after a 
feeble effort, when a little knowledge of its uses and value on 
the part of the experimenter would have led to an entirely 
difierent, and, perhaps, perfectly successful result. The man- 
ual which you contemplate will, therefore, come just in season. 

To say of this plant that it will work an entire revolution 
in the great sugar interest of this country, would, perhaps, be 
premature ; but the fact that it has sprung into general notica 



104 THE CHINESE SUaAR-CANE. 

and awakened tlie interest of the whole country so suddenly, is 
strong evidence of its intrinsic importance, especially as it 
has succeeded in every case, so far as I know, beyond the antic- 
ipations of those who have tried it. It bids fair to become of 
national importance. 

I have some acquaintance with Col. Peters, of Georgia, 
whose statements are before the country. These statements 
are perfectly reliable, and show what we may expect from the 
plant in a southern latitude. Fine molasses has been made 
from it in Minnesota ; while several experiments which have 
fallen under my notice in this state have been attended with 
success. It has been known and cultivated in France for 
some years. 

It appears to grow luxuriantly in all latitudes suitable for 
Indian corn. It is not claimed, I believe, that the percentage 
of saccharine matter is so great in northern as in southern 
latitudes. This may affect its value for the production of 
sugar in our climate, but does not essentially affect its value as 
a farm product, — and especially as a forage plant, since it is, 
without doubt, very rich in saccharine and nutritive matters 
in the highest latitudes at which it can be grown. I am told, 
by those who have raised it, that cattle are so fond of it that 
they will even pick it out stalk by stalk when mixed up in a 
bundle of Indian-corn stalks. There seems every reason to 
believe, therefore, that as a forage plant it will very rapidly 
come into general favor, and help us essentially through our 
summer droughts. 

Of its value for syrup or molasses I need not speak. You 
have shown, I believe, that it is practicable and profitable to 
grow it for that purpose alone. But whether it is or not, it 
is at least worthy of extended and careful experiments, which, 
I am sure, will be made, and experiments will soon determine 
the rank to which it is entitled among our New England pro- 



THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 105 

ductions. Your manual will encourage and assist these exper- 
iments, and it will be of essential service to the community. 
Very cordially and truly, your obedient servant, 

Charles L. Flint. 
To J. F. C. Hyde, Esq. 

FROM HON. SIMON BROWN, EDITOR OF THE N. E. FARMER. 

Office JSTew England Farmer, Boston, Dec. 27, 1850. 
Dear Sir : I am glad to learn, through your note, that you 
are preparing, and about to publish, a- manual relating to 
the cultivation of the Chinese Sugar-cane, and the best mode 
at present known of obtaining the juice and converting it 
into syrup. 

^ -tE- '7^ ^ w -Tr Tp 

The introduction of the sugar-cane is only another of 
those blessings conferred on the progress of the race which 
have been so frequent and beneficial, and which there is still 
reason to believe will be greatly extended. More earnest, 
intelligent, and scientific investigation into the great art of 
agriculture will undoubtedly introduce new vegetables, and 
grasses, and grains, of permanent value, and new and 
delicious fruits, of which we are now entirely ignorant. 
Nature is prolific and bountiful throughout her wide realm ; 
her secrets are not all past finding out. Intelligence and 
application will reveal them, and constantly confer new com- 
forts upon all. 

I hope our people will find in your manual encouragement 
to make multiplied experiments in the cultivation of the 
cane, and the production of syrup, so that out of all the 
trials instituted a sufficient number of reliable facts will be 
obtained to settle the question whether it can be produced on 
the farms of New England and the West at a cheaper rate 



106 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 

than we can obtain sugar and molasses by raising other 
crops and exchanging them for these articles. 

My own experiments in growing the cane have been quite 
limited, only going so far as to sow the seed and raise the 
plants which perfected their seeds before frosts came. I 
sowed the seed about the middle of May, 1856, and the 
plants from it perfected their seeds the first week in Septem- 
ber. I made no attempt to express the juice, and the 
plants were fed to ray stock when I was away from home. 

I have seen numerous accounts of the growth of the cane 
in different parts of the country, which are all favorable to 
its cultivation. Bottles of syrup have been sent to me from 
places widely remote from each other ; and those who have 
obtained it express the opinion that the introduction of the 
plant will eventually enable us to supply the market to some 
extent with the important staples of molasses and sugar. 
Their conclusions seem to me to be well grounded. 

If the cane does flourish here, upon trial, our ingenious 
mechanics will soon manufacture mills of various descrip- 
tions, to meet every want of the cultivator, and at a cost 
within the means of every neighborhood, at least; so that 
there is every encouragement to make the experiments, in which 
your manual will be an important guide. 

I am, very truly, yours, 

Simon Brown. 
J. F. C. Hyde, Esq. 



3kn-5 



